Loving You
by SacredHearts
Summary: Two notorious thieves are in Hobbiton when Gandalf has noticed and taking a liking to their skills. Both jump at the chance to join a band of misfit warriors on a new adventure but begin to doubt their choice when their skills, friendships and own lives are put on the line. Rated T for further chapters. Mild language. Pairings Fili/OC and Kili/OC?
1. Chapter 1: Twin Thieves

**Loving You**

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**Chapter One**

**Twin Thieves**

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I frantically searched for the gem; the gold only made it harder, making it seem impossible. I prayed that my sister will buy me enough time, I doubted it though. I dug through the gold only to find it sliding back down. I gritted my teeth in frustration cursing those damn dwarves. I whacked my hand at the gold sending many of it flying in a number of countless directions. I moved forward searching endlessly for it. My hatred grew even more for those bloody dwarves. This is why the dragon attacked, they had too much gold. When I was young I read stories of dwarves and their battles. I had so much respect and admiration for them but as I grew I began to hate them for their greed and selfishness. They could help so many people who have a slim chance to survive the winter but they don't. When I never found the stone I kicked at the gold, yelling in frustration. It was then I noticed something shine brightly standing out from the large pile of gold that surrounded it. I hastily made my way over to the pile, tripping a few times on the way; I slid down onto my knees and saw what seemed like a blue light shining through the gaps of gold. I stretched out a hand to stroke away the gold and there I saw it, the Arkenstone. I wrapped my dirt covered hand around it and picked it up marvelling at its beauty.

I didn't have long to look at it when an ear-splitting roar shook the hall. A scream followed after and then I saw her. Tariel, my twin sister, came sprinting towards me, the dragon not far behind but not yet in view. "RUN!" She yelled but I didn't. I couldn't move; I was frozen to the spot in shock. Another roar was heard and the dragon came charging into the hall right towards us. By now my sister was right beside me having stopped to look behind her. She stood like that for a few mere seconds but soon grabbed my wrist knowing I wouldn't move when she remembered we needed to get out. She kept hold of my wrist helping me keep up with her fast speed. I hate to admit it but she is a faster runner than me though I am better at free running than her.

Every now and then I looked behind, each time the dragon was closer. This time when I looked behind I yanked at Tariel's wrist and brought her close wrapping her in my arms. We dodged the dragon's flames; or so I thought. Searing pain spread through my arm, the one that held the Arkenstone. I screamed in pain, dropping the stone in the process. When the flames stopped I let my sister go and clutched my arm. She pulled away and took my uninjured arm; forgetting the stone. We both knew that we had to get out.

Luckily, the left door had a gap in it from when the dragon whacked its tail against the door so we didn't have to worry about opening the heavy doors. We were met with the blinding broad daylight but didn't stop, just kept going heading towards the trees. Tariel was sprinting alongside me, her stamina running low like mine. We couldn't stop, not now, not till we reach the dark deserted forest. The dragon, Smaug, wasn't chasing after us any more but we knew we shouldn't risk our lives by stopping here. So both of us kept running even though are legs ached almost shaking.

When we reached the first few trees we stopped to check if the dragon had actually had went back inside. I couldn't see it and guessing by how frantically my sister was looking around neither could she. I collapsed on the forest ground, Tariel following me not long after. Our breathing was heavy and ragged like we have just woken form a nightmare. Well I guess what just happened was as good as one.

I closed my eyes and just lay there in thought. I felt the cold grassy ground cool my burnt hand; the pain was replaced with a stinging sensation. I tried to ignore it by listening to my surroundings. Only the rustling of the trees as the wind ran through could be heard; the dragon probably scared off all the wildlife. I concentrated on my own heartbeat as it returned to its normal pace after running. _Lup-dub, lup-dup…_my heartbeat went on beating like the beat of a drum. The rhythm to me was soothing like a mothers lullaby. I smiled and looked to my side where my twin was. I panicked when I didn't see her lying next to me. I shot up looking frantically around. I calmed quickly when I heard her speak from a tree she sat in sketching.

"I'm up here so you can stop your panicking"

"Sorry about that" I was quick to apologize when something hit me "Eh, how long was I lost in thought?"

"Bout 20 minutes" She looked up from her book "You seriously should have that checked out"

"Yeah. Guess I should..."

"I was also talking about your arm" She nodded towards it "I used the last of the bandages on it so by the time we get to where ever we are going next - hopefully somewhere we aren't well known - then it will probably have gotten worse"

"Oh" I fumbled with the bandage but stopped when I felt my Ri's glare on me. I then remembered about the Arkenstone and I knew she would be a little pissed off that I dropped it. "Oh about the stone-" She cut me off with a flick of her hand "Let's just get away from here"

"How about Hobbiton? I heard it's rather peaceful there" I asked.

Tariel thought about it before she gave a slight nod. She shoved her sketching book and pencil in her satchel before jumping down from the branch she had occupied. "Please try not to pick at the bandage. I know what your like" She pleaded with me as she helped me up. I nodded while dusting off the dirt from my breeches. Once I was done we made our way through the dense forest neither of us knowing what adventure lay before us.

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It was nightfall when we finally reached Hobbitton after a week of travelling. We had left our ponies back at Laketown in our rush to get somewhere quieter and where we were less known. I slung my arm around Tariel's neck "Well here we are sis, Hobbitton!"

"Hmm, I can see that very well thank you"

"Ah, good to know you haven't lost your sight then" With that said she slapped me across the head, good and hard. I rubbed the back of my head while playfully glaring at her. She sent one of her own glares back resulting in both of us laughing loudly. I was surprised to see that we hadn't woken or disturbed any of the hobbits with our laughter.

"Right then I guess it's best if we find a place to sleep for the night" I grinned hugely at her as she rolled her eyes. We walked silently down the hill, my arm still hung loosely around her neck. Our silence was normally comfortable the only time it wasn't was when we had an argument or there was something that needed to be discussed. I was glad it was like that, it made it easier to apologize and to discuss a matter which neither of us wanted to talk about. My lips twitched into a slight smile at this. I never realized we reached the inn we planned to say at for the night until I was dragged from my thoughts by loud cheering and chattering.

I must have a serious problem if I don't even realize when I'm walking into a building. I shook my head; clearing it from any thoughts helping me to pay attention to my surroundings. I found myself at the bar when a young hobbit lady approached us. I quickly took in her appearance. She had strawberry roan curly shoulder length hair and the brightest green eyes full of innocence along with rosy cheeks and plump lips. She wore a short sleeved white, the sleeves were a colour of blue, she had a light blue bodice with darker lines in a criss cross pattern down the middle where the parting showed the chemise, the skirt was the same shade as the bodice and reached halfway down her shin with a white apron, on top of this was the same shaded blue material that went over her skirt but again left a parting so it showed her apron and skirt. After taking that in I snapped my attention back to her.

"Hiya, my names Tigerlily" She greeted us cheerily "How can I help you?"

"Well, me and my sister were wondering if you have any rooms for the night?" Tariel asked politely knowing I'd just do something stupid.

"Yeah sure we do. Two or just one?"

"One with two beds if possible"

"Sure, that will be two silvers" She handed her the money before we were shown to a room upstairs. As soon as she left us in our room alone I kicked off my brown mud covered boots before undoing my bun letting my hair cascade down the waistcoat before taking that off leaving me in my white shirt and light brown breeches. I dived straight for the bed hugging the pillow close. I could just imagining my sister rolling her eyes.

"Sometimes I wonder if you are the oldest with the way you act"

"As long as I'm an inch taller than you I will be the oldest"

"Tsk, height as nought to do with this"

"Well it does when it makes you look older"

"Yeah unless your big-mouthed, always getting into useless brawls when a man calls you a whore once, taking ridiculous risks and spits in the face of a king just because he gets to close for your liking. Now does that remind you of someone?"

"Oh yeah come to think of it, it does...Thranduil" I heard her slap her forehead as she sat on her bed just having taking off her boots. It was a few minutes before we looked at each other and began to snigger. We both remembered when the elf leaned in too close when snarling a warning I couldn't give a damn about. I just spat without thinking about any consequences not that we got one. I smirked one last time before snuggling closer to my pillow still lying on top of the blankets which I couldn't be bothered to get underneath. It wasn't long before I slipped into a deep peaceful sleep.

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**Hiya! Thanks for reading this first chapter :) Please leave a review, comment or favourite if possible. It would really make my day :D In the next chapter I will describe their looks a bit more.**

**-Sacred- **


	2. Chapter 2: Staring Is Rude

**Chapter Two**

**Staring Is Rude**

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I sneak silently into the back of the cart where many of the apples were kept. A mischievous smile crept onto my lips as I stared at the apples. I picked up about eight apples, careful not to let any fall or drop, and shoved them into the empty compartment of my dark tan satchel. Quickly I jogged back to where my sister would be; the market. I knew she would be pick pocketing many of the hobbits, if not then she would be stealing from the shops or causing havoc with the farmers. To sum it up she would be doing something illegal. When I finally reached the busy market place; I instantly took notice to how over crowded it was. This would be a gold mine to Jessica.

I scanned the area with no Jessica in sight. I sighed knowing I would have to go into the crowd to find her which is what I was praying I wouldn't have to do. I walked sulkily down the path and into the swarm of hobbits. I blended in with the hobbits in hopes to surprise her when I could actually find her. I swerved swiftly passed every hobbit hoping to catch a glimpse of her. After about half an hour I noticed her by a stall selling a variety of dresses.

She was casually pretending to look at each dress as she neared a money bag on top of a book. I chuckled lightly at this and quickly made my way through the overcrowded market. As I neared the stall I noticed from the corner of my eye a man dress in grey, a long tall stick in one hand and in the other a smoking pipe. I remembered seeing him before watching me when I stole the apples from the cart. Even though I found it strange to see a man in the Shire I turned my full attention back on my sister. Luckily she was still there though she was now only a few steps away from the money bag.

Having reached the stall by now, I sneak up behind her. Before she could take the bag I snatched it up clutching tightly in my hand. Jessica spun round fear shown clear on her face but it was replaced with shock when she realized it was me.

I thought you were stealing apples" She spoke her voice tainted with confusion. I looked at her as though she was stupid "I _was _stealing apples but then I came here to find you as we were supposed to meet at the top of the hill".

Her mouth opened to speak but she closed it again and gave me a nervous chuckle. I rolled my eyes and took her arm in mine as we walked normally out of the market. The bag, which was clutched in my hand, was shoved into the satchel as we walked up the gentle slope. As I did this I spotted the same man I saw from before trailing us.

"Hey Jess, I think that that man is following us" I whispered keeping my voice low. I saw her eyes dart discreetly behind her before looking forward again.

"And this is how you deal with it" I was confused at what she meant at first but when she stopped and pivoted round I understood. I turned round next to her and came face to face with the stranger. If we were just normal sweet girls we wouldn't have done this as we only reached up to his chest but we were thieves who hated to be messed with. His weary eyes bore into Jessica's as she stared right back into his. I realized then that this man was not just any man but a wizard. I couldn't believe I didn't recognize him before. How could I not have remembered him from his significant grey clothes and staff!

"Gandalf?" I questioned ending the staring match between him and my sister.

"Now I'm surprised you failed to recognize me at the market or maybe you were to intrigued in robbing everybody and thing"

"You will find that you are mistaken my dear friend" I chuckled as confusion mounted on his tired face "For that was my sister who was thieving around the place but yes it was me who saw you and failed to recognize you"

"How come I never saw you? I thought I had pick pocketed everybody" Jessica cried interrupting whatever the wizard was about to say. I chuckled knowing that he only came to the market after me when she had moved onto the stalls. I would have left it but then I knew I would be dragged back to the market so she could go through everybody again; I decided to prevent this and put her mind at ease. "Don't whine about sis he had come to the market after me when you were on the stalls. Anyway you know he only carries his pipe and staff with him" She had looked at me and after much hesitation she left it. We then both turned our attentions back to Gandalf who had been waiting patiently to speak.

"Now that I have your full attention I would like to ask a favor of you both" He began watching us both as we listened "I need you to accompany me on an adventure. Now if you accept then I will tell you more on my way to Bag End if not then this is where we will part ways. So what is your answer?"

"Why do you even need to ask my dear friend" I chuckled

"We never say no to any adventure!" Jess continued

"Yes!" We both said in unison, excited to have another adventure. With our answer Gandalf lead us towards the hobbit's hole while explaining to us what this was about. I learnt that we are to help some dwarves reclaim their home that was taken by Smaug a dragon. At first I wanted to back out with the thought of helping some selfish gold crazed dwarves but then my heart kept yearning for adventure again. Another problem also arose for us when Gandalf told us of our destination we were quite worried knowing we had been there about a week or so before. The wizard never noticed our discomfort though; if he did then he didn't mention or question it. It was quickly forgotten though when he ran through the companies names.

There was Ori, Nori, Dori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bombur and I think it was Bofur. Then there was the two Durin brothers Kili and Fili. The last dwarf he mentioned was Thorin King Under The Mountain. To me he was quite a famous dwarf from the stories I have read in my books but he wasn't my favourite because of his dwarfish blood. Jessica thought so too but she has less knowledge of the stories and really takes no interest in dwarven people in fact she has more dislikes them more then me even though we are part dwarvish. Before I knew it we were stopped by Gandalf.

"The hobbit hole is just at the top of this gentle hill but I need to visit him alone. Could you both wait here in the Shire till nightfall when I would like you to come back to this home?" We both nodded knowing this would be the meeting he mentioned earlier. "Well then until nightfall and please play nice" Gandalf left us before we could even take another breath. I shook my head as we watched him disappear over the hill. I couldn't believe him telling us to 'play nice'. I was taken from my thoughts when I heard my sisters voice.

"Right I think we should sit in that tree just over there" I followed where her finger pointed, she chose a good spot that I couldn't say no to. I began to run to the tree shouting behind me "Race ya!" I heard her footsteps catch up to me quite quickly so I sped up. I looked behind me but couldn't see her only to be pushed to the side by something. I stumbled and looked to what had pushed me only to see my sister ahead of me laughing away.

"It is on!" I yelled as sprinted after her.

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I swallowed some more of the ale I had in my cup when a loud knock echoed throughout the hobbit's hole. Everyone looked around at each other confused to who it must be. We looked to the hobbit who just looked as clueless as us so we turned to the wizard who was already walking towards the door. We rose from our chairs, wanting to know who it was. As the wizard neared the door I could hear fighting from outside and I'm sure the others could too. He opened the door almost getting flattened by the two strangers who came flying through the doorway. I stood on an empty chair to see over the others and I noticed for the first time it was two girls fighting. They knocked over some weapons, which I think were mine and Fili's, before tumbling into a box. There was a dark brown-haired girl pinning down the other girl whose hair was just a tad bit lighter. Their hazel eyes glared into each other, the two looked as though they were having a silent argument.

If it had not been for Gandalf it would've continued for longer. He grabbed the girls by the collars of their white tunics and dragged them up to stand into front of Thorin who I could tell was not happy to be interrupted. They glared up at the old wizard who stood behind them, both hands on their shoulders.

"This is Jessica and Tariel" He introduced them. I looked to the dark-haired Jessica. She was smaller than my uncle only just a few inches smaller than my uncle just reaching up to his cheek. My brows knitted in confusion as I took in her attire. She wore a tan waistcoat on top of her white tunic. Her breeches were brown her boots only a darker shade. On her hands I noticed were covered by worn out fingerless gloves that matched her boot colour. I looked closer at her right hand which seemed to be wrapped in a bandage. It was soon removed from sight when she pulled her rolled up sleeves down before crossing her arms across her chest.

I was brought back to the present conversation between the wizard and my uncle when Fili almost pushed me off the chair that I stood upon. I let myself glare at him before jumping off the chair with a loud thud but this however went unnoticed by my uncle and the wizard. "They are the two most skilled thieves I know across the whole of Middle Earth!" Gandalf bit back at Thorin who was about to argue back when Tariel spoke "Don't we get a say in this; I mean it is about us".

"You got that right sis" Jessica agreed

"Thorin, if Gandalf thinks they will aid us well on our quest then maybe we should let them?" Balin put in. I did hope he would let them come, especially the darker haired girl. I discovered that Fili was too examining these girls but when I followed his gaze it landed on Tariel. I smirked knowing he had fallen for them already. I couldn't believe it but I have only known this girl for not 5 minutes and I was already falling for her; I was expecting it to be vice versa. I shook my head and looked to Thorin waiting for his decision.

After a while of waiting he finally agreed "Fine!"

I let a big grin cover my face as I looked over at them only to receive a glare from Thorin. My grin only grew as I jumped up on to the table to get to my chair. I leapt down and plopped into the wooden chair. Once again my uncle gave me a glare but since I received them daily I got used to ignoring them. Fili sat down next to me in his own chair next to me. I scanned the room for Jessica and Tariel, finding them next to Gandalf near Thorin. From time to time I would flash a look at Jessica for only a few seconds before looking back again sometimes catching her gaze but unable to hold it.

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As I listened in on what the dwarves said I would catch a young dark-haired dwarf looking at me but diverted his gaze whenever I caught him. I think Gandalf mentioned him earlier, I think he was Kili one of the Durin brothers. I thought myself going paranoid but Tariel had also noticed the stares. She whispered it to me careful not to let anyone overhear. I gave her a quick nod and turned back to the meeting.

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain, as it was foretold: 'When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end" A grey bearded dwarf told the rest. Loud murmurs moved amongst the dwarves but Bilbo, confused, questioned "What beast?"

"Well, that would be a reference to Smaug the Terrible." Bofur replied casually. He was leaning back in his chair, feet propped up on the table much to the poor hobbit's dislike "Chiefest and greatest calamity of our Age. Airborne fire breather. Teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks. Extremely fond of precious metals.

"I know what a dragon is" He spoke quickly. I could tell Bofur was starting to annoy him. Well I was certain he was Bofur as Gandallf told me that he wore a hat.

"I'm not afraid! I'm up for it." Ori I think it was gave the sudden declaration as he leaped from his chair "I'll give him a taste of Dwarfish iron right up his jacksie!"

I ignored his outburst as the dwarf next to him told him to sit down. "The task would be difficult enough with an army behind us," mused Balin, then scanning the small company, "but we number just thirteen...and not thirteen of the best nor brightest. "This resulted in a "Who you calling dim?!" which neither I or my sister took part in and then a sudden uproar broke out among the dwarves. It was Fili's bellowing voice which finally silenced the argument "We may be few in number, but we're fighters. All of us! To the last Dwarf!"

A few mumbled strong and firm "aye's" in agreement and I even cracked a soft smile.

"And you forget we have a wizard in our company. Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time" Kili shouted his voice cheerful.

All eyes turn to Gandalf, who muttered a soft denial to the claim, but several dwarves began to demand a number. It didn't take long for the room to erupt once more into a loud and chaotic din of voices.

"ENOUGH!" Thorin's command snapped them into silence "If we have read these signs, do you not think others will have read them too? Rumours have begun to spread. The dragon Smaug has not been seen for _sixty years_. Eyes look East to the mountain, assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we sit back while others claim what is rightfully ours, or do we seize this chance to take back _**Erebor?!**_" Me and Tariel cast worried glances the same question could be read in each others eyes _what have we done?!_ Unlike us the dwarves cheered in unison at his words, founding their fists against the table. All, that is, except for Balin, who pointed out "You forget, the front gate is sealed. There is no way into the mountain."

"That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true" replied Gandalf as he rummaged inside his cloak for something "Hmm it should be here"

We watched as he tried to find whatever he was looking for when Tariel kicked me hard in the shin "Ow! What was that for?"

"You know fully well what!" She hissed, by now everyone was watching us even Gandalf. She looked at me and sighed "Gandalf, was this item wrapped in white cloth?"

He was about ask how she knew but he then looked at me "Jessica?"

I tried to remember what she meant when it finally hit me "Oh! That, well you could have been much clearer on what you were talking about!". I told her casually as I pulled out the item that I took from the wizard earlier today. He glared at me while I beamed at him as he took the item "You have a serious problem and don't think I didn't hear hear about what happened at Mirkwood". I giggled as he said this remembering exactly what I and Tariel did. Gandalf turned his attentions back to Thorin revealing a key wrapped in the cloth.

"How did you come by this?" demanded Thorin, studying the key in soft awe.

"It was given to me by your father, by Thráin. For safekeeping. It is yours now."

"If there is a key, there must be a door." Fili mused aloud, and Gandalf nodded solemnly.

"These runes..." his old withered hands moved over the worn page to tap on a column of foreign inscriptions, "speak of a hidden passage to the Lower Halls."

"There's another way in." Kili murmured to his brother, and gave him a nudge in excitement.

"Well, if we can find it but Dwarf doors are invisible when closed" Gandalf added when he saw me walk behind Kili "That is if you don't use windows as doors and doors as windows"

"Well maybe if people want us to use the front door then they could at least make it more visible and if your talking about the time I used the kitchen window instead of the back door even though it was wide open that is because I could not be bothered to walk a few metres to the back door when there was a perfectly good window right next to me" He didn't see the light hearted glare I gave him as he was already looking at the map again "The answer lies somewhere hidden in this map, and I do not have the skill to find it, but there are others in Middle-earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth and no small amount of courage. But if you're careful and clever I believe that it can be done."

"That's why we need burglars." The grey haired dwarf stated. I didn't listen after then instead I leaned down to Kili's ear whispering "I shouldn't be needing to tell someone of you standards that it's rude to stare!"

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**Thanks for reading my second chapter :) Another thanks to those who have reviewed, followed or favourited this fic and if you haven't done so already then please do. It would really make my day! **

**-Sacred-**


	3. Chapter 3: Shooting Glances

**Chapter 3**

** Shooting Glances**

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I stretched out lazily laying back down having just finished re-doing my hair in a messy bun while waiting for the dwarves to come with their ponies. I put my hands up behind my head and relaxed on the warm grass basking in the sun. I replayed last night in my head over again and again. I smiled slightly as I remembered the look on the hobbit's face before he fainted when I showed him my burnt forearm though it was the memory after dragging the hobbit to his bed that kept replaying in my mind.

_"How did you receive this burn?" Kili questioned as he wrapped it up into a new clean bandage. I looked up from his working hands to his eyes that were concentrating on my arm. "Fire" I replied but I soon let out a hiss as he tightened the bandage on my arm tying it neatly to finish it off. I sat and watched him in silence as he folded up the rest of the bandage. When he finished he sat in front of me in the hallway. I leaned forward off the wall taking one of his rough bare hands in my slender smooth hands. I had to take my gloves off earlier before as Tariel told me she needed to make an improvement to the hidden blades; one of her creations. I traced the lines on his hands as we sat in comfortable silence._

_When I got bored of that I cupped his hand in both of mine. I looked up to meet his gaze, my hazel eyes meeting his brown ones. Neither of us broke the eye contact but he did break the silence "So tell me about yourself"._

_"Well, you know who I am. Tariel is my twin sister and we are only 69 years old" I started but he interrupted me with what I said "69 years! But how?"_

_"My father is full dwarvish, my mother is part man as well as hobbit and elvish" I informed but spat out the word elvish with hatred. "Your part elf!" He gasped before muttering something to quiet for me to hear and breaking the eye contact. "Yeah and I'm not proud of it neither is my mother" I hissed at him. He looked to me and nodded "Do you mind me asking why?"_

_"Well I'd have to ask Tariel if she wants you to know then we will tell" I answered him "Anyway stop interrupting me it's very rude just like staring is". He blushed madly at this as I chuckled remembering what happened._

_"So yes me and my sister left home when we were only 15 my brother left a year before us and we've been travelling for 54 years. We help starving families by stealing from nobles and royalty. One of our biggest jackpots was two years ago at Mirkwood when we stole from Legolas, the king's son. Oh boy Thranduil was not happy about it in fact he is still looking for us" I giggled at that but then when I saw Kili's wondering face I knew it would be better to show him than tell him. I stood up offering my hand to help him up. He took my hand and I pulled him up then dragging him to where I knew I'd find Tariel. "Hey Ri" I smiled when I saw her working on the blades, when we were nine we gave each other nicknames mine being Jess and they still stuck "You know that thing we took from Mirkwood two years ago, can I have it?"_

_She looked up from her work confused but then she noticed Kili. She rolled her eyes "Yeah just get it from the bag but don't take it from this room, I know what you are like"._

_"Thanks!" I chuckled while grabbing her bag. I rummaged through it for a while before finding it. I pulled out a mangled silver circlet that had been melted in some places. It took Kili a short while before he cracked up with laughter. I followed him and it didn't take long for my sister to join us. While laughing I looked into Kili's eyes his doing the same. For the first time in ages I gave a smile of true happiness to someone other than my sister._

It was then that the memory stopped and replayed but this time I was dragged from my thoughts when someone kicked me hard in my leg. I gave a yelp of surprise and pain as I shot right up, above me stood my sister; the little devil. "Why did you do that?" I asked letting my annoyance show willingly. She smirked "We've got to go now"

"Well you didn't have to kick me" I grumbled but then I remembered something "How long were you waiting?"

"Ah don't worry about it only twenty minutes" She informed me "It would have took us ten minutes to get there so we would have left the stables ten minutes ago so that means it should only take them ten minutes to get here"

"Right I think I got most of that" I murmured then as I stood up I asked "So you mean to say that they should be here any minute now?"

She was about to answer but a loud yell was heard from behind me "Tariel! Jessica!"

I turned round to see the dwarves on their ponies walking towards us. I sighed already missing my mare Elemyn and I knew my sister would miss her stallion Valeryk as much as me. Seeing them with their ponies saddened me more but I masked it with a smile and waved to them. We didn't have to wait long before they finally reached us. I walked onto the edge of the path with my sister waiting to hear what would be happening from Thorin. It was Gandalf who gave us an answer though "You two will be riding your ponies I believe yours Jessica was a white mare and Tariel you had a white stallion am I correct?"

My brows knitted in confusion "How did you know and what do you mean riding them they are at Laketown?"

"Well I was in Mirkwood when I met a man who went by the name of Bard. I spoke of your incident telling him that I was looking for the pair of you also because I needed you for some private matters. He informed me that you had left for the Shire as it was one of the few places where you aren't known well. He also said that it was strange that you left your ponies in Laketown so I asked him if he could have someone take them to Hobbiton in a week's time" He told us soon chuckling at our shocked and confused faces.

"Where are they?" Tariel asked desperate to see Valeryk. Gandalf didn't speak this time but instead he whistled. From behind us two ponies came cantering towards us. I gasped in recognition and ran towards the smaller one, Elemyn. She came to a trot quickly slowing to a halt as I hugged her around her neck. I pulled apart and stroked the bridge of her nose.

"Hello again my old friend" I whispered calmingly. I kissed her nose and swung up onto her with ease. I always rode her bareback, so did my sister; we found it easier when travelling. I nudged her with my feet into a walk stopping beside my sister as I waited for her to mount. I didn't have to wait long before she was mounted and both of us were standing at the edge of the path.

I looked to Thorin who was still debating whether to glare at the wizard or us. I smirked, this was a first_. _My smirk made his mind settle with glaring at the pair of us, which only I returned, instead of Gandalf and it was him who spoke first breaking the glaring match we had going on "I think it is best if we continue on, do you not?"

Thorin nodded, he turned back around and continued on, the company followed. I waited till the end unlike my sister who joined just in front of Gandalf next to Bofur but behind the two brothers, Kili and Fili. Luckily, the wizard joined me. He asked me of my adventures and what I had been up to. I answered each one of them with every detail, except the part about Mirkwood; that I left out. I knew I shouldn't have but he did ask what I had been up to and since he already knew about that incident I decided not to mention it.

I was halfway through my story of being in Laketown when he interrupted "Why did you travel from Gondor to Laketown? You would never travel that for without a reason unless you're staying at an inn so you can take from a place not far off"

I gulped losing the hope I had left that he wouldn't ask that. It was true me and Tariel never travel as far as that without a reason and nearly everyone who knew us knew that but few dared to ask how my old friend had just done, we hated people knowing our business when it was something big like that. I opened my mouth to speak but instead a shout for us to stop came from behind us. I snapped round and saw a puffed out hobbit I would have knew as a stranger yesterday but today I knew him as Bilbo Baggins. He caught up repeating that he had signed the contract but I tuned out then.

I got my mare to walk just beside my sister so I wouldn't have to answer Gandalf. Bofur chuckled and left us two so he could ride next to his brother Bifur. Tariel ignored me while she took in her surroundings, I soon got bored which didn't take long and looked to Kili who I had noticed had kept shooting glances at me again. He had started this morning but stopped when I caught his gaze only to start it again when I rode with Gandalf. It was then I had finally decided I should have a little fun playing with him on this adventure.

* * *

**Thank you for your following, favouring and commenting. I am also very sorry for this late post as my laptop received a virus but thank you again for waiting. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**-Sacred-**


	4. Chapter 4: Admit It

**Chapter 4**

**Admit It**

* * *

We had been travelling for about two weeks now. I had already embarrassed Kili much to the annoyance of his uncle but who cares then it cast amusment and laughter over the company. The most recent thing I had done was tying his laces together before waking him up so when he did finally decide to get up he fell over. Though I guess the worst thing I've done to him was during one of our stops to rest a little and water the ponies when I pushed him off the tree branches that were hanging over a deep river that didn't seem too strong.

_Kili began shaking the branches the more I kept on pleading__ for him to stop. I began to get pissed off with the fact he found amusement in this. Once again I looked down at the river considering whether to jump or not. A brilliant idea walked its way into my mind. I looked at him with an evil smirk plastered on my face. I knew this would be perfect since we were the only two here and I could easily make him tell them that he fell in._

_"Oh Kili" I sang; he looked at me questioningly stopping what he was doing "Can you swim?"_

_"Yeah, why-" I never let him finish because I kicked him off the branch._

_He landed with a loud splash but didn't resurface straight away nor where he landed. He came up again a few metres downstream from where he'd fallen in. I laughed at his expression only to laugh even more when he was bawled over by the river. My laughter was short lived when he began trying to swim against the current only to be getting pulled further downstream. At first I thought he was pretending but I could see his struggle against it and knew he was not joking with me. _

_Without hesitation I dived in even though it was pretty reckless of me as I probably wasn't any better at swimming than him. The water was bitter cold strange for a boiling hot day like today. I began to swim with the current; I was catching up to Kili quite quickly. When I got to him he grabbed me and pulled me closer so our bodies were touching. He stopped his struggling and stood up._

_"Gotcha!" He teased rubbing our noses together playfully. I slapped his shoulder while also straightening up, the river went just over my shoulders. _

_"I thought you were drowning! Don't scare me like that!" _

_"Well maybe you should stop with all your little pranks" He smirked. I gaped at him now realising this was just payback for what I've done. _

_"Why you sneaky little son of a bitch?!" I exclaimed while pushing him back after every word not realising we had neared the river bank till he fell backwards after my last push. He grabbed my hand and dragged me down with him; I yelped in surprise. I landed on top of him with his legs in between mine, my hands on either side of his head. He grinned at our position not finding it awkward in any way possible while I on the other hand was the complete opposite. _

_"Not that I'm not against this position but I feel a little emasculated here" His grinning had stopped and he looked at me._

_"A soaking wet **clothed **woman is lying on top of you and you feel emasculated?" I asked in disbelief_

_"A little bit" He nodded his head_

_"You do know what that word means, right?" His answer nearly cut of my question by how quick he answered "Yes! I do know what it means, I had Balin as a tutor! And I feel it."_

_"Wow! Never thought my younger brother could be such a baby" Fili's voice was heard from our right. We looked at him and realized Tariel, Dwalin, Bofur, Ori and Dori were all watching us. I groaned before lying my forehead on his chest hiding my blushing cheeks. _

_"Thorin's looking for the pair of you and I don't think he is going to be happy with you when he finds out about this" Ri explained why they were here._

_"Well he isn't going to find out is he!" I glared at her my face clearly telling her as well as the others not to dare breath a word of this. No one responded; instead of letting it fall awkward I got up before helping Kili. I linked arms with my sister while dragging her back to camp. I also noticed the look she gave Fili before they both disappeared out of sight from each other._

Thinking of them I had noticed that after the incident they were even closer than I thought, sure I had noticed this before but never gave it much attention. It was only after I saw the look between the two did I decide on watching them closer and actually paying attention instead of talking to Bilbo or Gandalf. I saw that they were riding next to each other most of the times, some dwarves suspected things too so I was glad I wasn't the only one. Thorin would have said something but it was obvious that the two didn't even realise their own feelings, so he left it though anyone could tell he was praying like hell that it wouldn't grow into something more. I too had been hoping they wouldn't because after this we would be off travelling; if she had truly fallen in love then I knew that I wouldn't go without her.

What also caught Thorin's attention was me and Kili. I had to put up with him looking at me while the two were riding in front of us. It had caught his uncle's attention simply because he could not have both nephews falling in love with thugs as he called us. Before my thoughts could continue a horrible screech ran throughout the camp, _orcs!_

I got up from my resting position against the rock that Gandalf sat on and joined Fili, Kili and my sister around the fire. Tariel was sat in between the brothers and the only place left was next to the younger brother. I sat next to him our arms touching slightly. Another screech was heard; I strangely shifted closer to Kili like it was natural. "What was that?!" The hobbit asked alarmed

"Orcs" Kili answered

"Orcs!" The hobbit spoke while stalking over to us waking Thorin had had been resting peacefully upon a rock

"Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there, the lowlands crawling with them" Fili explained taking the pipe out of his mouth. I glared at him but he either ignored it or was oblivious to it.

"They strike during the wee small hours, quick and quiet, no screams. Just lots of blood" Kili added. I glared harsher at him especially when they both began to snigger knowing they had scared the poor hobbit. "You think that's funny?" Thorin fumed now walking around in front of the hobbit, silencing his nephews "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke!?"

"We didn't mean anything by it" Kili apologized looking guiltily down at his feet

"No you didn't" Thorin stormed off to the cliff side "You know nothing of the world"

"You deserved it" Tariel spoke once Thorin was out of earshot. We all looked to her but my expression was not full of guilt like the brothers but instead disagreement. I turned my gaze back to the fire that burned brightly.

"Your wrong sister" I spoke my voice strong yet sounding strangely fragile "They didn't". She looked at me along with the brothers "What?"

I shook my head "You two were let off easy. If it were me you two would be lucky to still be breathing".

The brothers eyes widened, my sister just looked into the fire knowing what it reminded me of. Balin who had joined us just before my sister told them they deserved it finally spoke "Don't mind him, lads. Thorin has more cause than most to hate Orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria... but our enemy had got there first. Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs, led by the most vile of all their race, Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King. Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed; we did not know. We were leaderless, defeat and death were upon us".

He paused for a while before continuing "That is when I saw him; the young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armour rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield... Azog the Defiler learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken. Our forces rallied and drove the Orcs back; our enemy had been defeated... but there was no feast or songs that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived and I thought to myself then 'There is one I could follow. There is one I could call King'".

During this story every dwarf had awoken and was up standing looking at their king with respect. The only ones still sitting were Gandalf, Bilbo, Fili, Kili, Tariel and myself. I had also realized that while Balin told the story I had leaned my tired head against Kili's shoulder his then went against mine. I wanted to move so badly but I just couldn't like I had been frozen here. Thorin began to walk through the gap being made for him. "What happened to Azog?" The hobbit asked curiously. The dwarven king now standing before the fire answered his question "The filth died of his wound long ago". Silence fell over the camp to only when the flickering of the fire and the crackling of the burning wood could be heard. Gandalf looked from Balin to me and my sister; I knew that he knew that wasn't true. He looked away and stared off into the distance while smoking his pipe.

Slowly the dwarves - including Bilbo - went back to their sleeping mats soon to fall asleep. Thorin lay on the rock which he had earlier occupied. Fili left us first followed by Tariel leaving me and Kili. I closed my eyes just dozing against Kili, he too done the same as I felt him dare to relax further against like I would suddenly slap him across the face. I began to feel Kili lower from his sitting position into a lying position on the floor. Since my head was on his shoulders I went back with him. I opened my eyes to look at him to find him gazing at me. I snuggled closer slightly before closing my eyes and falling into unconsciousness.

I could here a few faint murmurs, one of the three who spoke was Kili. I knew this because of his chest rumbling every time he spoke. Guessing that everyone else was asleep except for Thorin I knew it had be him who also spoke. The third I did not know but I didn't really care as I slipped into darkness

* * *

I groaned as my eyes opened to the bright sunlight so I rolled over to block it out. I heard my brother move about; I cracked an eye open. He was looking at me almost studying me, I just looked at him confused and curious knowing he was about to say something. "You love her don't you?" He asked causing me to let out another groan "Not this again!"

"Face it Kee you can't keep your eyes off her" He pointed out "And don't you remember how close you two were last night."

"Fine!" I gave in but decided to get him to admit his feelings "But what about you and Tariel?"

"I don't know what you mean" He avoided my gaze knowing he would give in

"Yeah right Thorin has noticed how close you two are becoming in fact the whole company has" He just huffed, stood up and went off muttering something about getting the others up knowing I'd won.

My victory grin was short lived when I remembered last night and falling asleep with Jessica but she wasn't here. Suddenly there were shouts coming not far camp one of them I recognized as my uncle's. The other sounded more feminine so I knew it was a woman. I knew it would have been where the dark haired twin was, remembering what uncle said about telling her he would like a word with her in the morning when she had finally fell asleep. I guess what my uncle had to say could not wait but he was normally quite impatient so no surprise really. After a short jog not far from the stream I saw them, their shouts louder and clearer.

"I don't understand why your yelling at me to do something that I can't" I didn't understand what Jessica meant but I knew I would find out soon.

"What do you mean you can't!" Thorin bellowed "How hard is it to stay away from my nephews?"

Jess cried out in frustration "You don't get it do you. I don't love him and even if I did then I wouldn't show it because as soon as this quest is over I'm gone!"

"I really don't believe that" My uncle spat

"Why? Because I'm some common thief"

"Yes!" A loud smack rang throughout the forest silencing it

"Do. Not. Relate. Me. To. A. Common. Thug" Jessica spat through gritted teeth

"Why you little-"

"Stop this!" I silenced my uncle knowing he'd hit Jessica back if I didn't step in soon "What is going on?"

Thorin glared at me but I ignored it. Jessica however was already storming off back to camp but I thought fast and grabbed her wrist spinning her round to face me.

"Kili" Thorin began growled in a warning tone

"Answer me" I whispered at first but when neither would I raised my voice "Answer. Me"

"You want to know" Jessica raised an eyebrow while freeing her wrist "Your uncle has asked me to stay away from you because he has got this brilliant idea that I love you." With that she stomped off back to camp her fists clenched tight. I sighed and turned to face my uncle "Thorin I-"

"Don't!" He snapped "You had no right to do that"

"From what? You two killing each other!" I knew I had to tell him; put him straight "Listen, uncle, it's not her it's me. I don't care if she is a thief or a common thug as you may call her, I don't give a damn. I don't give a god damn shit about she is. I love her, uncle, ever since I first laid eyes on her"

"Then you are foolish!" Thorin growled after a moment of silence, his voice harsher than I've ever heard before "No in fact I was foolish to let the pair of them join!" I never said anything but just glared back at him.

"You better stay away from her or else" He warned before turning and walking off back to camp.

* * *

I sat down next to my sister with a small huff of annoyance. She just creaked her eyes open before shutting them, ignoring me. I wrapped my arms around my legs holding myself tightly. _Why couldn't he just let me be!? _I silently fumed glaring at the ground as if I were able to burn holes into it. Not before long Thorin walked back into camp, he controlled his anger before he told Fili to wake up the others. I also realized I left a slight red mark on his left cheek where I had slapped him. I snickered at this knowing it would be there for a while. Kili soon followed him into camp looking at me his eyes silently told me he was sorry. I still couldn't forgive him for what had happened even though it wasn't really his fault. Anyhow he knew better than to talk to me now so he left me to cool down and helped his brother wake the rest up.

Once they were all up we ate breakfast though my sister and I didn't take it; we chose to eat the apples we picked yesterday when we stopped for a rest. After that we packed up and once again we headed off on our ponies and horse in Gandalf's case. For the rest of the day we would ride, rest, ride, eat, ride, set up camp and sleep. It stayed like this for the next few days sometimes I would take night watch a few times with my sister. Nothing much happened except the day after the argument with Thorin, the rest of the company finally realized the tension between us. It was only a few days later did Kili ride next to me for the entire day in fact he was almost glued to my side; we were hardly apart. Something in the back of my mind told me he was trying to annoy his uncle so I went with that and let him.

The day after Kili had rode next to me, when I lay awake unable to get asleep, Kili joined me and wrapped his arms around my waist providing warmth for me. I mumbled to him asking what he thought he was doing but I received no reply. I growled slightly and wriggled about trying to free myself but his grip just got tighter. I accepted defeat and let myself relax in his arms. When I was almost asleep I felt him pulling me closer to him but before I could protest I fell into unconsciousness. During the night, while I slept I must have rolled over and cuddled up to him because when I woke the next morning my head was buried into the crook of his neck, both of my hands on his chest, his arms tightly wrapped around my waist. My left leg was underneath his left and my right on top of his left while his right leg was on top of my right. We were interlocked as people would probably say and I was actually glad we were the first ones awake until I noticed Fili was already awake - he had been on watch. The young prince had also been looking right at us, a smirk plastered on his face, he had seen us. This could only mean one thing, the whole company would find out.

* * *

**So Kili admitted his feelings for Jessica as well as Fili kind of admitting his own for Tariel. The next chapter will have more Fili and Tariel views and mention less of Kili and Jess because I feel like I've done too much on them. I hope you like it though and please review, follow and favourite. Thank you for reading!**

**-Sacred-**


	5. Chapter 5: Trolls

**Chapter 5**

**Trolls**

* * *

I grinned again flashing another look at my sister who caught my gaze. I nodded towards Kili which only made her glare at me, her face masked with annoyance. I turned back to my pony which I had been taking care since I finished looking after my quarter of ponies. Jess had just finished the last pony before taking care of her own mare. The boys on the other hand were only half way through. I finished with my stallion and before I could tell him to lay down he did, he just lay down on his front yet his legs out to the side so I could relax against him. I put my long average sized legs out in front of me and looked at the glances the two 'love birds' were giving each other, sometimes I would shoot my own at Fili. We never caught each other's gaze but I could feel his gaze on me when I wasn't looking and I knew he could feel mine. I still didn't understand why I had to look at him, I knew Jess would probably know but I felt just too shy to ask her. I just didn't know what to do.

I watched Fili as he looked after the ponies with care. I never shifted my gaze, I couldn't, until shouts were heard coming from Gandalf. I sat up straight and watched as he stormed down the hill from the house ruin which stood at the top. He went straight to his chestnut horse which luckily we hadn't untacked yet; we had agreed to look after the horse last considering its size. He mounted before spurring his horse into the trees disappearing from sight quite quickly. The four of us looked at each other all of us thinking the same thing, what was that about? Neither of us voiced it though knowing we would be less likely to receive an answer. I relaxed back down on Valeryk trying to clear my head that was beginning to hurt with the amount of things I was thinking about.

I inhaled then exhaled before repeating the process. This breathing technique as you could call it helped me clear my mind. It wasn't long before I fell into a light rest almost close to falling asleep. I could hear nearly everything, the rustling of the wind, the shuffling of feet and a louder stomping of feet could be heard. At first I thought it was just the dwarves but when I thought about it I realized that their footsteps aren't that loud. A thought came into my head but I dismissed, they wouldn't come this far down from the mountains...would they? I snapped my eyes open and looked round to see the two princes just finishing up. I looked to Jess to find her sleeping on her front peacefully. My brows knitted in confusion, did they not hear anything? Maybe it was just me imagining things but I knew that if I wasn't then the ponies and the dwarves could be in trouble. To be on the safe side I went to check on the ponies while on the lookout for any tracks. I walked around all of them taking notice to how there seemed to be fewer than 16 ponies but I pushed the thought away since I saw no tracks from any danger.

When I returned not long later the brothers were lying against a tree, my sister was still in the same position when I left. The thought of some of the ponies missing returned so I knew it would be better to tell them. "Boys!" Their heads snapped up, their full attention now on me so I continued "I think some of the ponies may be missing". This made the pair of them stand up taking it with seriousness "What?! How could you lose them?" Kili spoke first putting all the blame onto me which I just couldn't stand for "Me! How could it be my fault? Your uncle assigned both of you to looking after the ponies! Me and Jess chose to help since we were looking after our own, it should have been you two to notice this!"

"She does have a point though" Fili defended me, if anyone could persuade the young dwarf it was him. He relaxed slightly "Your right but we must be certain. I want you two to go that way; Jess and I will go the other so we will meet up halfway". I nodded uncertain whether he'd manage to wake up my sister who hated to be woken up. He reassured me that he could and with that I set off with Fili around one side of the ponies counting each one. We got to about 9 ponies when we finally met up with the dark haired duo. "We counted 5 ponies, you?" I groaned, great! "That makes 14 which means 2 are missing" Fili answered. We looked at each other with the same worried expression on our faces.

* * *

"What's the matter?" Bilbo asked, looking from Kili and Tariel to me and Fili.

"We're meant to be looking after the ponies" Kili answered him

"Only we've encountered a slight problem" Fili added

"We had sixteen" Tariel spoke quite casually with a hint of worry

"Now there's fourteen" I finished while inspecting my boot knife not showing much worry or concern in this matter even though I was. "Well are you sure they haven't just wandered off or something?" Bilbo asked causing us all to look at him. I rolled my eyes wondering if he had something wrong with him "Do you really think we would telling anyone first that two of the ponies are missing without checking that first?" I began to walk towards the tree the others following me after a bit of hesitation.

"Well you could-" Bilbo started only to be interrupted by Kili "We know they never wandered off because we found this which seems to have been uprooted by something very large". I stood beside the tree inspecting it "Yes something very large indeed". Bilbo looked at the tree in shock "N-Now that isn't good at all. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"

"Nah, wouldn't want to bother him" Fili answered my sister adding "We would have already told him by now if we should have". I looked to back to the elder brother as he began to speak "As our official burglar we thought you might want to look into it".

"Well, uh" He stammered "Look, something big uprooted these trees"

"That was our thinking" I sighed beginning to inspect my hidden blade in the right glove.

"It's something very big and… possibly quite dangerous" Bilbo carried on. I began checking the sharpness of the blade when the golden haired dwarf got my attention "Hey. There's a light".

"Over here" Kili motioned to hide behind a large log. Putting my blades away I ducked under a large branch from the broken tree and slid behind the log. I saw the bright campfire light in the distance; I could easily hear the grunting and laughter of the occupants around the fire.

"Eh, what is it?" Bilbo asked

"Trolls!" I hissed, this would only mean trouble.

Fili jumped over the log followed by Tariel, me, Kili then Bilbo. I took cover behind a tree with my sister and the hobbit while the other two were behind the tree next to this one.

We watched as the two trolls sat around the campfire, one stirring a pot full of what was more than likely stew. Next to them in a corner I could see the two ponies, Daisy and Bungo, the missing ponies. I looked to Ri to see if she saw them, she caught my gaze and nodded towards them. I answered her with a nod. "Watch out!" The golden haired prince hissed a warning to us all to get down low as a troll came stomping past us carrying two more ponies.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty! I think they're going to eat them" Bilbo sighed "We've got to do something"

"Yes, you should" Kili answered the rest of us nodding our heads at him.

"What? Me? No, no, no, no" Bilbo shook his head vigorously.

"Mountains trolls and slow and stupid" Kili took his bowl of soup while he swapped places with the hobbit "And you're so small they'll never see you"

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"Perfectly safe" I answered him

"We'll be right behind you" Fili added while taking his own bowl of soup and pushing Bilbo towards the camp "If you run into trouble hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl".

We sprinted back in the direction of our own camp the two lads being careful not to spill the soup. I came to a halt near the camp when I just thought about something "Eh, why are we going to inform Thorin of the trolls if we won't even tell him of the ponies?"

They looked at me, then at each other, then to my sister before looking back at me "Well…"

"He probably won't bother" Kili continued before his brother took over

"Asking about the ponies-"

"Because the trolls-"

"Will be much more of a problem-"

"And a greater risk to us" Kili finished. I raised my eyebrows "Okay, well you know him best so I guess I'll will trust you on this one, Ri?"

"Yeah you're his kin so you'll know him best" She nodded. Fili ran into camp warning every one of the trolls. However, Kili looked at me before jogging into camp after him. I stayed on the side-lines with Ri awaiting the leaders decision once again taking out my boot knife finishing my inspection on it.

It was only when all the dwarves began to run past me did I stop, put it back in its rightful place and follow them. We ran to the edge of the troll's campsite and hid among the bushes while we decided on what to do. I never really joined in as I was too preoccupied with what was happening to Bilbo who had just been caught by one of the trolls. He was then questioned whether there were more of us. He looked to where we were but didn't see us. He lied telling them no but a troll with funny eyes accused him of lying, telling the others to hold his toes over the fire and make him squeal.

Kili however stopped this by slashing the troll across the back of his leg with his sword. The funny eyed troll squealed and held his leg but he was cut across the bottom of his foot causing him to fall backwards.

"Drop him!" The dark haired dwarf demanded

"You what?" The troll who held Bilbo questioned

"I said…" He began while swinging his sword round "drop him".

The troll growled and threw Bilbo onto the dwarf who had to drop his sword just to catch him. He fell down and as soon as his back touched the ground we charged out with our weapons raised. I ran out beside Fili but I never started fighting instead I took Kili's sword and helped him up along with Bilbo. I pushed the hobbit in the direction of a large stone which a troll had used as a seat. Kili then took his sword nodding his thanks and we joined in with the fighting. I used my daggers to stab the troll's legs sometimes using my hidden blades. I had gotten into a routine and had stuck by it for a while until I was suddenly noticed Ri about to get whacked across the other side of the camp. I acted fast and ran to her, pushing her out of the way.

I felt all my breath leave me when the blow came. I heard something crack inside me, probably my ribs. I cried out in pain when this happened. I was thrown over the fire and onto the other side right into the unexpecting Kili. He landed with a loud thump on the ground, a groan erupting from him. I got off him put fell back down clutching the right side of my ribs, something was defiantly broken. I moaned at this, he looked at me in concern. This time I gently sat up so he could get up and just in time as well for a troll came heading towards us. He picked up his sword and stabbed him in the leg. The troll screamed out loud and held its leg forgetting about us.

This gave me time to get up but instead I was picked up bridal style by Kili. He took me to a huge rock which was in clear view of all three trolls. He placed me down like I was a piece of fragile glass, which I thought was rather sweet of him even after what has happened. This thought only grew when he stood in front of me with his sword ready to defend me. The troll from earlier came at him again. Kili cut the troll in the hand before stabbing its foot. He swiped the back of its heel then returned to standing in front of me. The troll yelled and reached down to grab him again this time he dodged but was caught in the other hand.

"Kili!" I yelled ignoring the pain in my chest. Taking out a throwing dagger I aimed it at the troll's wrist and threw. I struck gold and the dark haired dwarf was dropped as the troll cried out clutching his wrist. He only got more pissed off, now after me. He began to stomp towards me but a stone hit him in the eye. I looked to the attacker and found Ori. I nodded him my gratitude especially when the troll left us to follow him.

I slowly, using the large boulder for support, got up. I walked slower than usual over to Kili and helped him up since he was still lying on the ground. At first I wondered why he wasn't up until I noticed a small gash on the side of his head. It wasn't that serious so he would live but he would have one heck of a headache. Once he was up we helped each other while fighting the trolls. Well actually he protected me while I just helped him here and there. We soon found ourselves next to Thorin when Ori fell over.

"Come one. Get Up!" Kili told him as he heaved him up with the help of Dori. I however noticed the same thing has Thorin, the trolls holding up Bilbo. When the younger dark haired prince saw this he shouted out the hobbit's name and began to run towards him to help. His uncle held him back. I would have done the same but my ribs had begun to hurt too much for that.

"Lay down your arms or we'll rip his off!" One of the trolls demanded. I looked to Thorin, to the hobbit, then back to Thorin. With much hesitation he planted his sword in the ground. I threw my oversized dagger down; I used this instead of a sword. I never threw down any of my other weapons since you couldn't see them and I was more than likely going to need them. Everyone else did the same.

* * *

We were all soon put in sacks, some tied over the fire. I was one of the lucky few who weren't instead I was put next to a large boulder next to Thorin. I noticed that Jess and Kili were once again bickering, which isn't a surprise. I rolled my eyes and ignored them. Thorin who just couldn't do that booted the pair of them. They shut up, turned, glared all in unison. They turned away the same time and looked at what the trolls were doing. Not long later I saw and began to watch as the young dwarf leaned back further between his uncle and me. He lifted his upper legs and stomach off the ground, managing to hold the weight of my sister who was lying on top of him with her head on his stomach. He began tilting slightly from left to right quickly. I was curious at first but I realized that he was getting my sister further down so her head was at the crook of his neck, ignoring her protests in the process.

He finally went back to his original position, grinning widely at her but only receiving a glare in return. He ignored this as well and they both turned back to the trolls.

"Dawn ain't far away, let's get a move on" A troll told his friends "I don't fancy being turned to stone".

"Wait!" Bilbo piped up, I prayed he wouldn't get us into any more trouble "You are making a terrible mistake". Great! Why Gandalf wanted this hobbit on the adventure so badly will always be a mystery to me. Well Gandalf is a mystery altogether.

"You can't reason with them their half-wits!" Dori shouted

"Half-wits?" Bofur questioned "What does that make us then?" Bilbo was already up on his feet by now.

"I meant with the, eh, seasoning" Bilbo explained, maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

"What about the seasoning?" A troll asked

"Well, have you smelt them?" Bilbo told them "You're going to need a lot more than sage before you plate this lot up!" I looked at him taking it as an offense. Then I began to have a second thought, he was trying to do something, but what?

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" Another troll questioned

"Shut up!" The troll from before told the other one "Let the flurgaburburhobbit talk"

"Eh, well, the secret to cooking dwarf is…" Bilbo trailed off, now I really hoped he had a good idea

"Yes? Come one! Tell us the secret!" The troll insisted

"Yes, I'm telling you" Bilbo began jumping up and down trying to make something up "The secret is…to skin them first" The dwarves began shouting curses at him something which I didn't join in knowing he was up to something.

"Tom, get me filleting knife" The troll motioned to a funny eyed troll. So that's was his name was, Tom!

"What a load of rubbish" A troll that stood turning the dwarves over the fire began "I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scarf them, I say, boot and all!"

"He's right nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf" Tom said picking up Bombur and hovering over his mouth "Nice and crunchy"

"No!" Bilbo stopped him "Not that one, he's infected"

"Huh?" Tom gasped

"You what?" Another questioned

"Yeah…he's got worms" Bilbo insisted "In his…tubes" The troll threw Bombur back down who landed on top of Oin, Kili and my sister.

"In fact they all have" Bilbo carried on "They're all infested with parasites! It's a nasty business. I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't" It was then I noticed Bilbo was trying to buy us time. I remembered the trolls saying they didn't want to be turned to stone and that happened at sunrise.

"Did he say parasites?" Oin asked

"Yeah, we don't have parasites!" Obviously Kili hadn't even a clue of what Bilbo was doing

"You have parasites!" And neither did Jess did it seem. I looked to Thorin who looked at me both of us silently asking if what we thought was true. We then looked at the young duo and kicked them both. They shut up instantly, their grunts silencing the rest of the dwarves who heard it. They looked at their leader and finally got what the hobbit was up to.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm" Oin began boasting

"Mine are the biggest parasites!" Kili joined in "I've got huge parasites!"

Soon we were all boasting of how big our parasites where except for Thorin, Bilbo, Jessica and myself. I noticed that my sister had her head tucked in the crook of Kili's neck, seemingly in pain. "Kili!" I hissed, he turned to me "What's wrong with Jess?"

He looked back down at her then to me again "I think she might have broken a few of her ribs when we were fighting. She will be fine though she just doesn't any to cause any more pain for herself". I nodded and turned my attention back to the real problem.

"What would you have us do then?" A troll began walking towards the hobbit "Let them all go?"

"Well…"

"You think I don't know what you're up to!" He pointed a finger at him; this could only get worse "This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" Bilbo said offended by this

"Fools?" Tom asked

"The dawn will take you all!" An old weary voice shouted from upon the large boulder. Gandalf! I knew that voice anywhere. He slammed down his staff against the middle of the boulder and it split in half revealing the sun. We were all blinded by it but when we opened them we were met by stone statue trolls and Gandalf who still stood upon the rock. We all began cheering for both the hobbit and the wizard. They had both saved us all.

* * *

**Sorry about how late this was but I had a problem with my laptop so I had to send it away but it's fixed now. So anyway here it is Chapter 5 and I hope you like it. Once again please comment, favourite or follow. Thank you for reading :)**


	6. Chapter 6: Who Are You?

**Chapter 6**

**Who Are You?**

* * *

"It seems you have acquired 3 bruised ribs and one broken" Balin told me when he finished examining me. I knew I should have had Oin look at my ribs but I didn't feel as comfortable with him touching my ribs and I did trust him more. I took my waistcoat from Ori who had held it for me.

"Great" I muttered, this would only cause problems not just for me but the entire company. Tariel took my arm and lifted me up trying not to hurt me.

"Thank you Balin. How long will it take to heal?" I asked

"Well, broken ribs take a few months a bruised rib will take only a few weeks" Balin told me only receiving a glare from me "Only a few weeks! This day just gets better and better"

"What about your-" Before Kili could finish his question I cut him off "Eh, I don't think it would heal any faster"

"But I heard that elves heal quicker" Kili protested obviously clueless to why I cut him off "But that's a full elf and your only-"

"Kili! That is enough" I cut him off once again only this time it was a little too late; all the company had already heard.

"Your part elf" Thorin growled. I sighed knowing their was no point denying it, I just nodded. "Your related to those who betrayed us"

"Hey they didn't just do that to you" I growled back at him. Confusion flashed over his face, not just his in fact the whole companies spare a few.

"Why would they betray you?" Thorin spoke for them.

"Hmm let's think, maybe because we're only **part** elf" I proclaimed

"You still have elvish blood" He emphasised 'you' when he said it

"Doesn't mean we have to get along does it now?" I rolled my eyes after asking this rhetorical question. Thorin opened his mouth to speak but another voice spoke instead "I think it would be best if we focus on the real problem"

I nodded my head towards the old wizard in gratitude to stop myself from glaring returning Thorin's glare. "The trolls could not have moved in daylight". The king's attention snapped up to the wizard "There must be a cave nearby". We set off to receive our bags first which we got packed quite quickly. I noticed that Gandalf wasn't anywhere to be seen while we packed away so I made a mental note to check where he has gone along with where he stormed off to yesterday. We got our bags packed just in time for the wizard to appear telling us to follow him. I also took noticed to how most of the company were wary of us for the only exceptions were Bilbo who had nothing against elves, Kili, Fili, Ori, Bofur and lastly Balin who I would have thought to be the same as Thorin and his brother Dwalin about this but he wasn't. Gandalf led us to a large cave which he found when we were packing away. I stayed outside while my sister went inside. I sat on a large stone with my back turned to them all tracing the delicate patterns on my oversized dagger when Kili joined me.

"I'm sorry, you know, for spilling your secret" He apologized

"Nah, its better it came out sooner than later" I sighed

"So...you're not angry?"

"Well no" He gave me a 'really?' look "Okay maybe a little bit but I'm more annoyed"

"Oh…"

"Why are you asking this?"

"It's just that, well, I may have ruined your trust with nearly the whole entire company"

"And you think I haven't noticed that. I think they just need time to adjust" I smiled and looked to him "Anyway I have you don't I?"

"Yeah, you always will..." He trailed off

"That's good to hear then" I never realised what he actually meant and I didn't even give it a second thought; I just hoped he keep it like a promise. We sat in silence a while longer until Tariel came running out of the cave "Jessica!"

I turned round to look at her being carefully of my rib, I noticed she was carrying a beautifully patterned box. Its lid bared a crest, one I knew only too well. I hopped down gently from the stone and took the box from her hands while yanking my seal off. I placed the box on the ground before I put the seal into the lock to open it. To our luck it did and together we lifted off the lid.

Inside it revealed two beautiful daggers; next to them were two bracelets. The daggers had elegant patterns - similar to the ones on our oversized daggers - carved into them. One of the of the bracelets had my name spelt out on little silver cubes one letter for each cube while the other bracelet had my sisters name.

"Bracelet's to remind us of each other no matter how far apart we are" I mused while taking the bracelet that had Tariel's name wrote on it while she took the other one with my name on it. We slipped them on before taking the twin daggers, one each. I remember we were about to open this on our eleventh birthday. Mother said that it was the first same double digits of our life, the most special time for us.

I finally snapped out of the memory, so did Ri as she stood up and turned to the dwarves who were watching us but not crowded around. I was about to close the box when I noticed a bit of paper sticking out from the side. I tugged at it and it came out swiftly. I realized that it was an envelope. An envelope addressed to me. I stuffed it into an inside pocket of my waistcoat and shut the lid. I stood up and turned around to be met with Kili; betrayal and sadness shown clear in his eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked pain etching its way in

"W-what do you mean?" Trying to get out of answering him

"You know what I mean!" He hissed. I opened my mouth but no words came out so I closed it. His eyes looked down at his hand, at something he held. He opened his hand and revealed my seal, the one I left in the lock of the box. I tried to take it but he pulled his hand away. He shook his head when he next spoke I think everyone was shocked to hear how brittle his voice was "I think I'll hold onto this".

With that he walked away to sit down with his back against the tree not facing us. I looked down ashamed as well as upset, even angered. I then glanced round at the company who looked at me as if I were dirt, the few exceptions being Bilbo, Gandalf – who already knew – and Tariel. I saw that Thorin had been stopped by Gandalf, telling him that there it would be best to save it for later. The leader looked at him and nodded even though he really didn't want to. Their stares stopped suddenly when we heard a voice, one very familiar to me.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" A weary man came storming through the bushes, all of us quickly drawing out our weapons. I, however, ran to him and hugged him ignoring my protesting ribs. He was just as shocked as the dwarves are but when he realised it was me he returned the gesture.

"Ah, Radagast" Gandalf said walking up to greet him but Ri beat him to it. The brown wizard saw it coming and opened his arms after I pulled away. When my sister pulled away Gandalf finally managed to greet his cousin.

"It's Radagast the Brown" I informed the company who still had their weapons out, it looked like they had no intention of putting them away. I just rolled my eyes, they seriously have some trust issues.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf questioned, both me and Tariel listening intently.

"I was looking for you Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong"

"Yes?" The grey wizard urged him on. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped forgetting what he was going to say.

"Just give me a minute" He thought about it for a while "Oh. I had the thought and now I've lost it. It was right there on the tip of my tongue" He stopped for a moment before he suddenly gasped "Oh. It's not a thought at all".

"Not again" I groaned, I always found what he was about to do strange and it always made me feel a little sick like it was about to happen to me.

"It's a silly old…" He murmured as he opened his mouth four Gandalf to take out the insect "stick insect". It sent many shivers up my spine, I was quite certain everyone else saw my reaction. The wizard placed the insect into Radagast's hand. He let it run down his sled before looking to my sister "Now, while I have this chance I must give you something of yours that you forgot long ago". At first she looked confused but when she saw him taking out a drawing book she knew what it was.

"Thank you!" She laughed while taking the book from his grasp and giving him another tight hug. She pulled away, walked a few steps, sat down, crossed her legs and began looking at each drawing. I smiled at her knowing she cried for ages when she lost it. It was one of her most treasured possessions. I sat down beside her, looking through the book with her. The two wizards had left us to go into a more private area to talk while the dwarves began to go disperse into their own little groups. Sometimes when I looked up from the book I could see Kili sitting upon a large slanted rock tracing the small crest on my seal with his thumb. I would only look at him for a mere three seconds before looking down at the book again.

However when I looked up this time I heard Ri sigh heavily "Go to him"

"But-" I was cut short by her "I have seen you looking up at him, he has been doing the same". I nodded and stood up doing what she told me. I was surprised to learn that he had also been looking at me, I thought he hated me. I was glad he sat further away from the dwarves so that if we talked normally we would not be heard. It was when I reached his side did he speak.

"Go away Jessica"

"No" I told him firmly sitting next to him. He whipped his head round to the side to face me.

"I don't want to speak to you!" He snarled

"Don't you dare snarl at me!" I snapped

"Why shouldn't I? It's hardly anything compared to what you've done today!" He hissed his eyes growing darker

"Today!?"

"You lied!"

"Lied? How did I lie?" I shook my head in disbelief "It is called keeping secrets!"

"What about your true heritage. You said you were a thief. Even when you told me of your past you kept it hidden." He retorted back quite quickly. I just stared at him as he continued "So was that your. To keep it hidden for the whole entire time". I looked down guilty giving away that that was my full intention.

"Oh god. You are just unbelievable" He stood up and barged past me. I stood up quickly to follow him down the rock "Would you believe me?"

"Believe you?" He scoffed "I don't I can believe anything that comes out of your mouth any more"

"Fine then! Well maybe you can tell me how could I have told you?" I shouted quickly changing my voice to imitate my own when it is normal "By the way I'm the heir to the throne of Telemnar but I could be a Queen for all I know since my mother was captured and has a very slim chance of being alive!" I looked at him as I panted for breath after my sudden outburst; I felt a tear begin to roll down my cheek. His eyes were full of mixed emotions none of which could I make out. He moved to wipe the stray tear but I moved away and stormed down to rock. I just reached the other dwarves with Kili not far behind me calling me back, to which I didn't listen of course, when a warg howl reached our ears.

"Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asked

"Wolves? No that is not a wolf" Bofur answered with fear in his voice. We all snapped our heads towards the sound out a twig breaking where we found the source of the howl. The warg jumped aiming for Nori. He saw this and moved out of the way. It landed but before it could do anything else Thorin slashed its neck with a new sword he must have acquired from the cave. Another one appeared from behind him but Kili was quick to act and shot it with his bow. It tumbled down but got back up only to be brought back down again by Dwalin who used his axe to kill it.

"Warg scouts" Thorin spat "Which means an Orc pack is not far behind"

"Orc pack?" Bilbo asked to which everyone just ignored

"Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin?" Gandalf questioned

"No one"

"Who did you tell?" The wizard demanded

"No one, I swear" He then questioned "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted" He answered

"We have to get out of here" Dwalin advised

"We can't. We haven't got any ponies" Ori informed us "They bolted". What about my pony? I hoped she would come back, I didn't want to lose er.

"I'll draw them off" Radagast made me come back to the real problem

"These are Gundabad wargs. They will outrun you" Gandalf told him as if he was an idiot

"These are Rhosgobel rabbits" Radagast retorted only for us all to look at him as if he was a complete loony, seeing this he added "I'd like to see them try"

* * *

**Sorry for the late post but I went camping in a caravan last weekend so I was unable to post. Anyway I think that this chapter has revealed way to much but that's for you to decide but to be honest I find writing about when they are at Rivendell, Beorn's and Laketown much easier. Also in the next chapters I hope to do more of Tariel than Jess. I will probably use about 2 or 3 chapters for Rivendell. I do hope you like it though and please comment as I would love to know how to improve.**

**-Sacred-**


	7. Chapter 7: It' Yours Now

**Chapter 7**

**It's Yours Now**

* * *

We watched as Radagast led them over a hill away from us before we carried on running. I soon felt my ribs begin to hurt, just what I needed. We kept going and going until we stopped just as the brown wizard went flying past us, the wargs hot on his trail. We turned and ran in a different direction so we didn't get caught. I clutched my right side with my left hand as we sprinted. I was glad when we stopped to wait against a huge rock.

Soon we were off, Gandalf motioning for us to hurry up before he finally joined at the back. Not a few minutes later were we all against another rock. I was in front of Ri, holding her back safely. I stayed silent hearing the warg's growling. Next to me was Kili who took out an arrow, knocking it onto his bow. He ran out, spun round and shot the warg in the shoulder that only made so much more noise. It was attracting all the others to us. He shot it again, this time it tumbled off, however, its rider was unscathed.

He was taken down swiftly by Dwalin and Bifur. The orc cried out as he was killed before becoming still and silent. His cries though gave an accurate position of where we were to the Orc pack. That was confirmed when the wargs howling gradually got louder.

"Move!" Gandalf shouted "Run!"

We did as we were told; this time Ri helped me by sometimes dragging me or pushing me along gently. We surprisingly were not far behind them in fact a few others were behind us. We soon stopped as a warg and its rider could be seen at the top of a hill blocking our way. We would have turned round to run but more closed in on us from every direction.

"Kili! Shoot them!" Thorin ordered. I didn't want to stand there doing nothing so to at least be of some use I threw a couple of daggers.

"We're surrounded" Fili shouted holding his swords at the ready

"Where's Gandalf?" Dori asked, pointing this out to most of us including me.

"He's abandoned us" Dwalin cried as we moved closer together. I sent another dagger flying past Kili's face hitting the rider - that was about to kill him - in its eye killing it. He turned round to face the warg just in time to plunge his sword into its chest. I didn't wait for him to thank me because I knew I needed to concentrate on the danger.

I walked backwards, not wanting to turn my back on the wargs, till I found myself beside Fili. I put my daggers away and took out a small sword or a large dagger as some would say.

"Over here you fools!" Gandalf appeared from behind a rock. Fili and I followed the others at the back. When we reached the rock I jumped up next to Thorin waiting on Ri. I pushed her in when she reached and followed her in after. Fili, Kili then Thorin came sliding down not long after. I checked my sister over for any injuries; sighing with relief when she had none. It was also then I began to find it hard to breath. Clutching my heart as it began to burn I leant against her for support. I had realized that none of the company had noticed, not even Gandalf. Well the wizard was too busy arguing with Thorin at the moment.

Their attention was soon on me when I suddenly cried out in pain; my heart began burn harder and painful than before. No one did anything; they stood in shock watching me. When my body hit the floor it sent them out of this state, Tariel caught me letting me rest my head in her lap. I could faintly hear her pleading for me to stay with her but as much as I fought I couldn't. The last thing I heard was the sound of an elvish horn blaring before I succumbed to the darkness.

* * *

An elvish horn could be heard clearly from where we stood. I ignored it and moved next to Tariel who only glared at me.

"I'll carry her" It wasn't really an offer but more of an order. Ri held her closer and shook her head "I think I'll manage".

I didn't know what to say that could make her let me carry Jess. I hung my head and left it but stayed close to her side. I was sorry for what I had done and I knew I was acting over the top like I normally did. I forgot that we had only known each other for a few weeks now and not a few years. All the company began to move through a passageway and I followed keeping near the twins much to the annoyance of Tariel. I knew if it was Jess carrying Ri the she would have already have my head by now.

We came to the end of the passageway where we stopped to look out on the elven city known as Rivendell in common tongue as Gandalf told us. After he had a short rant with Thorin we began to move again. It was halfway down the hill when Ri stumbled catching the attention of the company by yelping. I was at her side helping her while taking Jess off her in the process.

"Kili! I don't need any of your help" She growled warningly to me. I hugged the dark haired woman closer "You don't have to."

"Give. Her. Back" Before I could reply Gandalf – who had moved from the front of the company to the back where we were – and interrupted me "Tariel you are worn out, you cannot carry her on your own. I think it is best if you let him carry her even just for a short while till you have regained your strength."

After much hesitation she finally gave a small defeated nod towards Gandalf; not even giving me a glance. She stormed away from me followed by the grey wizard before we continued. When we actually entered Rivendell, a party of elves was just returning from hunting down an orc pack.

"Close ranks!" My uncle ordered all of us working together to encircle the hobbit. I was also put into the centre of our group with Bilbo in means to protect Jessica. The elves came to a halt on their horses, only a single brown haired elf dismounted. He and Mithrandir begun a conversation in a language I could easily recognise as elvish. It also got me wondering whether Jess could speak anything other than common tongue. I only thought this because of her blood and her father was a pure dwarf. I snapped out of my thoughts when the company began to make way for the elf that had been talking to Gandalf not a moment ago and was now approaching me. He stopped and studied the injured lady in my arms before he finally spoke

"Quickly now follow me!" At first I hesitated but followed quickly knowing that this would be the only help we could give Jess since we had not enough supplies. The brown haired elf led me through many different corridors until we came to a stop. The elf took me inside the room where there was a freshly made bed along with a nightstand at the back of the room in the centre. Another elf appeared this time a lady. She greeted the other one but in a way I guessed they must have been father and daughter. I knew they were also speaking of Jess when she looked down at me. It wasn't long before she finally spoke in common tongue so I could understand.

"Hello there master dwarf" She greeted "I'm Arwen"

"Kili and this is Jessica"

"Well I need you to put your friend Jessica over on this bed so I can treat her, would you?" I nodded and obediently did as I was asked. If I was my uncle I probably would have been more stubborn but I don't have as much against them as him something which I always seemed to get a lecture about.

"Now I have to ask if you could also leave the room." I gave her a questioning look "Since she has a rib injury I will have to lift up her top and I don't think she would like you to see." My cheeks flushed red with embarrassment so I obediently nodded and walked out closing the door behind me.

I waited outside the room; it would be better to go back actually go back to the company knowing how she was. After about ten minutes I began pacing and after another ten minutes I could hear talking. I tried listening but the voices were muffled; all I could tell was that both of the voices were feminine. It wasn't long after when the door finally opened and Arwen appeared.

"How is she?" I asked

"With lots of rest she will be fine"

"How long will she take to heal?"

"A week on average the least being 5 days the most 2 weeks"

"Thank you" I nodded my gratitude towards her "Is she awake?"

"I just gave her a sleeping draught and she went straight out. You can sit with her if you like?"

"No. Tariel would want to." She nodded and with that we parted our ways. I went down many different corridors till finally I came across a little boy. He looked up when he heard me coming. Seeing as I was lost I stopped to talk to him maybe he could show me where the others were.

"Hello there" I smiled sitting down next to him.

"Hello" He returned the gesture "I'm Estel"

"My name is Kili. Now I was wondering if you have seen any other dwarves like me."

"Sure I have. When I heard Tariel was with them I was very happy to see her again but I was sad to hear that Jess was badly injured. I hope to see her when she is awake maybe when she is better she can teach me archery like she promised."

"She shoots?" I questioned "And you've met them before?" I had seen her bow and arrows before but never when she was using them.

"Yeah I met them when they came here a few times normally causing chaos and yes she shoot, she is the best archer I know but I guess her fighting skills have to pay off for her intelligence unlike her sister who is more into books but her fighting skills are still amazing." I couldn't help but laugh at how he offended Jess.

"Anything else you'd like to tell me of the twins?" He looked at me with a beaming smile plastered on his face. Before he could begin I stopped him "Could you show me to where my friends are staying while you tell me." He nodded and jumped up eagerly. I got up with less enthusiasm and soon found myself being dragged along.

"Well my favourite story is when I first met the pair of them about 6 years ago…"

_"Jess! Someone's coming" Tariel whispered a warning._

_"Give me a moment. I need to find it" Jessica replied keeping her voice low._

_"We need to leave now" Faint footsteps could be heard getting louder as it came closer._

_"Not without the key" The older brunette began rifling through the drawers quicker creating more of a racket._

_"We can come back for it in a few days when the Yule festival is on" Her younger sister began to tug on her sleeve; the footsteps were even louder than before._

_"We don't have a few days!" The footsteps stopped. A shadow could be seen from outside the closed door. Both of the sisters froze when the door slowly began to open. When it did it revealed a young boy around the age of five dressed in a white tunic and brown pants._

_"Who are you?" He questioned his eyes widening when he came to full realization of what we were doing "Why are you in Ada's desk?"_

_"Eh…Well…Your father has something of ours" Tariel told the young lad "We would appreciate it if you didn't tell him."_

_"You're both thieves!"_

_"No, no, no, no. We are just trying to get something back." Jess tried to persuade him._

_"You could just ask."_

_"We have!" Both of the sisters cried_

_"Then you mustn't be allowed it."_

_"So you're saying that we're not allowed to save a friend's life." He cocked his head to the side "What on earth do you mean?"_

_"What we are looking for is a key so we can free our friend who has been locked up and if we don't free him within the next few days he will be killed." The lighter brunette explained kindly._

_"Oh. Well then why won't father let you have the key?"_

_"Let's just say he doesn't want us to put our lives in danger." This time it was the darker haired brunette who answered him "You see if we get caught trying to free our friend we will all be killed without a second thought"_

_"That makes sense. It also means he cares for you a lot."_

_"Yes but we also care for our friend so it would be really helpful if you knew where the key was. If not then we must be on our way because key or not we are still going to free him." Jess finished having managed to open the locked window. She began to climb out the window after the little boy disappeared quite quickly as well. Her younger sister followed her as the climbed down the building._

_They were halfway across a bridge that would take them out of Rivendell when they were called back by the same little boy._

_"Wait! Stop! I've got the key!" The two sisters watched as the puffed out child stopped in front of them panting while bending over. Once he had recovered he handed them the key "It was between two books in Ada's room." The eldest smirked with amusement at the thought of the lad sneaking into his father's room. She knelt down to look at the boy while pocketing the key safely away in her waistcoat._

_"Tell me young master what is your name?" She asked_

_"Estel. My name is Estel"_

_"Well Estel, me and my sister cannot thank you enough for this" She took something from around her neck; a necklace chain with only a whistle attached to it "If you ever need us then just blow this whistle and we will come."_

_"T-Thank you!" He stuttered while gazing intently at his new gift._

_"Goodbye young master." She stood up and turned to leave with her sister. Before they could step off the other side of the bridge he shouted._

_"Wait, what are your names?"_

_"Jessica."_

_"Tariel." They both looked back at him "Goodbye Jessica and Tariel." He waved, the thieves returned the gesture. He then watched as they ran past the gates and into the forest not regretting what he'd done._

"Now that is how I first met them." He beamed up to me

"That's a great story." I then asked "So is this the first time you've seen them since then?"

"Don't you remember I said that they have been here a few times before causing chaos?"

"Chaos? Whatever do you mean?" Tariel suddenly asked from the dining table on the balcony. I never realized we had made it here till she had spoken.

"Well you did burn part of Elladan's hair off" The young lad replied smartly followed by a chorus of laughter from the dwarves.

"What?!" I asked in disbelief after I sobered up.

"You see one day Elladan and Ri got into a fight on who was the better set of twins but they were broke apart by a few guards before being put into isolation. It was only later that night when she got a match and burnt some of his hair. Since Jessica had put a sleeping powder in his drink he never woke up." Everyone was silent even the music had stopped playing. Lord Elrond was one of the few who were glaring at him but he only shrugged "They wanted to know."

"I thought you said she burnt his hair!" I said in disbelief

"I didn't kill him if that's what you're all thinking. I just burnt his hair but put it out when I thought that strand of hair was at the right length." All the dwarves relaxed when she included what the young lad left out.

"Oh. I might have forgotten that part." Estel gave off a nervous chuckle.

"You think?" I jumped out of my skin when a voice appeared behind me. This happened to most of the dwarves including Estel but he quickly recovered.

"Jessica!" The young boy jumped up into her arms "Whoa! You're getting heavy there prince charming." He laughed as she spun him around a few times but soon stopped before she could fall down.

"Young lady" Lord Elrond addressed her rising from his seat "Just what do you think you are doing out of bed?"

"Seeing if you've been treating my little prince here properly" She set Estel down and I was surprised to see he reached her shoulder when she could lift him up so easily especially with an injury like hers.

"You are injured." The elf remarked

"Doesn't mean I can't walk about."

"You lifting him up like that will just injure you worse and you won't heal any faster." She groaned at this "Fine…Can't I just sit here or do something other than digging my own grave as I slowly rot away with boredom." All she received was a glare so she took it as a yes. I followed her to the table though I went round the other side to sit next to Fili. Jessica chose to sit in between Tariel and Estel. The young lad was introduced to the company before we all began to eat.

"So where exactly have you been?" My brother decided to strike up a conversation.

"Well I was outside the room for about 20 minutes before Lord Elrond's daughter – Arwen – told me she was sleeping and all was well. I tried to find my way round but this place is like a maze literally and that's when I ran into Estel." I then began to pick at the material on my gloves before Fili slapped at my hands.

"I thought you said you'd stop" I replied with a shrug to which he rolled his eyes "What did he say?"

"Who?"

"Estel"

"Oh, he just told me when he first met the twins; six years ago I think it was."

"Correct." Ri piped in having gotten bored of her conversation with Jess and Estel "It was a family who had been friends with our family for years. She was also a great friend of ours, protected us when we were in trouble. She is only a few years younger than us; we came closer when her family were killed when we were only thirteen, that's when our father took her in without any second thoughts. When we heard she had ran into some trouble with the Mirkwood elves we came here looking for the key but some tree shagger wouldn't let us have it since it would be endangering our own lives. Stupid reason really since we're thieves and our lives are put at risk every day. Anyway that's when we met Estel who gave us the key and in return we gave him a whistle so if he ever needed us he would just blow the whistle and we would come."

The company had stopped what they were doing to listen to Tariel. It was a short silence before finally it was broken.

"Who was she?" It was Ori who asked this.

"Seraphine. Her name was Seraphine" Jess answered while smiling warmly at Ori.

"What happened to her?" Fili was the next dwarf to ask a question.

"She is alive and well from what I heard from her about six months ago." Ri answered.

"And she is the Captain and most trusted friend of Telemar" Estel smiled at the pair of the sisters who just groaned "What?"

"That subject is a bit touchy at the moment with the dwarves Estel" Lord Elrond suddenly appeared "It is also time for you to go to bed. You too Jess or you won't get any better."

"Aww" The young lad whined but he obediently did as asked. I watched as the twins both gave him a quick kiss on his cheek before he disappeared from the balcony. The elf looked at Jess "You need your rest if you want to get better quick." She sighed heavily and stood up with the help of her sister as they both walked out the room arm in arm.

"Beds have been made for you if you'd like to follow me" We all got up and left the table when Thorin gave us a nod. He led us through a few corridors before he showed us to our room. Inside there was 14 beds however me and Fili moved our beds together so it was easier to talk.

When we had all gotten settled into our beds there was a knock at the door. We all looked at each other wondering who it could be. It was Dwalin who dared to answer the door and when he did we could see his face full of shock. It was silent but soon a voice I recognised as Jessica's spoke.

"Stop staring and get Kili for me." He turned away from the door jerking his head from me to the door before lying down in his bed. I got up and walked slowly towards the door. When I got there I was met with one of the most breath taking sights. Her hair was let out of her bun showing her wavy waist length hair. She was wearing a blue nightdress that was mid-thigh length. I could tell it showed a bit too much cleavage for her liking as she had her arms crossed across her chest. That was what I guessed Dwalin had also been staring at because it was bigger than usual; I guess she did wear a waistcoat.

"Dear lord what is with you dwarves, you're worse than Dwalin!" She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. I averted my eyes the ground while kicking the floor. I could hear some of the dwarves chuckling especially Dwalin who was the only one apart from myself who has seen her.

"What do you need me for?"

"Follow me" I closed the door and followed her just to the end of the corridor before she stopped.

"Show me the seal" She bluntly told me

"Why?"

"I need to see it"

"And I told you that I will give it back when I want" I wasn't prepared for what she did next. She grabbed the back of my hair, forcefully pulling my head to the side. I yelped in a mixture of pain and shock. She moved my shirt to the side while inspecting my neck around where the chain lay. She gasped as though she saw something she didn't expect.

"It cannot be" She murmured as she released her grasp on me.

"What?" I questioned while rubbing my head where she'd pulled at my hair.

"Kili, I need you to be completely honest with me on this okay?" I cautiously nodded "When you put the chain around your neck did you feel any pain?"

"No"

"Anywhere at all?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Not even the slightest little bit?"

"No…well when I put it on I felt a small pin prick like pain in my heart and on the back of my neck but I thought nothing of it…Will you tell me why this has got you so wound up?" She began to run her hands through her hair as she paced back and forth. When she didn't answer, I took her hands in mine.

"What is the matter?" I asked only receiving a sigh "In time you will know but for now I need to get my head round it first. I hope you understand."

I nodded even though I was still unsure if I was or not "Thank you and I'm sorry about your head."

"Nah, it's okay I'll live" She giggled and we both said our goodnights. I returned to my room but before I opened the door I called to her just before she turned the corner.

"Jess!" She looked at me questioningly "Do you want it back?"

"No Kili" She shook her head "Tis yours now."

* * *

**Sorry for the late update I was camping for a week and this chapter did take a while to write. Hope you like it and please comment, favourite and follow.**

**-Sacred-**


	8. Chapter 8: Pipes And Fights

**Chapter 8**

** Pipes And Fights**

* * *

"Are you sure?" I asked her once again. I found it hard to believe what Jessica discovered last night.

"For the last time yes!" She cried "There were no burn marks and remember when I collapsed, even Elrond had his suspicions."

"So you let him keep it?"

"Well I couldn't take it back could I; if he had braided my hair and but a bead in it, it would be like taking that out."

"I know, I know. But what if someone doesn't know he knows what it means and gets the wrong idea?" I knew that what I said had got her thinking. She didn't know what would happen. I sighed heavily "You must tell him to hide it and if anyone asks he must not show them."

"What are you two talking about?" Bilbo suddenly appeared from the doorway to Jessica's room. When did he come in?

"Em…Nothing important" Jessica covered up a bit too quickly.

"Really? It didn't sound like it."

"Well it's a private conversation" It wasn't a lie because it was true, this was private.

"Not if you're talking about someone else. I heard everything from when you asked Jess why she let him keep it." That sneaky little hobbit!

"Yes but that someone is going to find out soon so it really doesn't matter" Jess told him. This kept him quiet for a little while until finally he stated "You're talking about Kili aren't you?"

Jessica groaned also confirming to Bilbo that it was him. I mentally slapped myself at how she was so stupid; she could have just denied it. I looked at Bilbo as I sighed in defeat.

"Fine. Bilbo if you promise not to tell anyone then we'll let you in. You might even have something that could help us." He nodded and sat down on the bed next to Jess who had her legs crossed and was currently glaring at me which I acted oblivious to.

"So what is it exactly that is going on?" He asked

"Right well firstly please do not interrupt and yes it's about Kili" He nodded so I continued "You remember when you all found out about our heritage – which we still need to discuss with the dwarves – and Kili took the seal which he still has…Well it's basically all about."

* * *

I sat on top of a large boulder smoking my pipe while watching Tariel when she suddenly sighed heavily slamming her book shut in annoyance.

"What is it with you men and your pipes?!" She huffed and snatched it out of my hand "No more smoking for you."

I gaped at her "You can't do that!"

"Stop your whining! Honestly this will be doing you a whole load of good" She slapped my hands away as I tried to take back my pipe. I scowled at her before eyeing her book. Just as she noticed I snatched it from her side and jumped off the boulder.

"Fili!" She chased after me as I ran along the path back to the building. The chase ended when we came to a large field and I collapsed onto the grass. Tariel soon fell down next to me. I clutched the book safely in my hand moving it as far as possible away from her. She chuckled at my actions and rolled over onto her stomach. She looked at me as I lay on my back gazing up at the sky.

"Can I have my book back?" She asked in the sweetest voice she could muster.

"Can I have my pipe back?" I copied her question only instead I was asking for my pipe back.

"No" She bluntly stated

"Well there's your answer" She glared at me before climbing on top of me.

"Give. It. Back" She ordered.

"Not till I get my pipe back."

"Okay then" I was confused at why she would give it back so easily; she must be up to something. I was right she was up to something. She sighed before pressing her thigh against my groin. I gulped trying not to give in.

"Ri!" I hissed through gritted teeth as she pressed down further.

"I'll stop when you give me that book."

"Only if you give me the pipe back."

"See you're addicted. No."

"Then you're going to have to try harder than that."

"Oh really…" I regretted what I'd said as she put nearly all her weight on down there. I gasped accidentally in pleasure. I watched her as she tried to reach for the book. Smirking I tossed across the field. Her jaw dropped in despair while I took this chance to get the upper hand. I rolled over so I was on top of her holding her firmly in place. She rifled about for a few moments but seeing that she wouldn't be getting out of my grasp she stopped.

"Hand it over."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Your addicted that's why."

"How am I addicted?"

"You started whining when I took the god damn thing off ya!"

"And how exactly does that make me addicted?"

"You smoke every night and anyway it gets annoying when you do it in front of my face all the time!"

"I find it quite amusing actually" I chuckled remembering how I purposely sat next to her just to smoke. She glared at me with a look on her face that I've seen on Jessica before that never meant any good. I raised an eyebrow almost as though I was challenging her. She couldn't do anything while I was holding her down and she knew it. She let out an exaggerated huff.

"The pipe" I demanded.

"Just because I can't do anything while you're holding me down doesn't mean I give in."

"You really are just as stubborn as your sister."

"Why thank you!" She said faking a sweet innocent voice.

"Ugh! You're insufferable."

"Two compliments from you in less than a minute. Wow It must be my lucky day!"

"Just give me my pipe back please."

"Okay!"

"Would you just-" I stopped short, did she just she yes? "What did you say?"

"Yep" She emphasised the 'p'. I began to wonder what she was up to.

"Where is it?"

"In my boot but either you get it or get off me so I can get it?" I looked down at her boots, to her, to the boots then back to her. I took my hand off her left wrist to get the pipe. Moving my hand was my biggest mistake. As soon as the contact broke she had me on my back with her sitting on my stomach.

"Oh come on!" If I could throw my hands up in the air I would but they were stuck underneath Ri.

"Surely you must have learnt not to trust me by now" She chuckled with amusement masking her voice.

"I wouldn't have expected you to do something like that…" I trailed off

"And why is that?"

"Well I would have thought Jess to do this."

"And I'm her twin am I not?"

"Well…Yeah but-"

"And a thief like her too?" She exaggerated the 'and'.

"Yes…" I answered her after a short wait.

"Fili! Tariel!" A voice called from across the meadow. I couldn't see who it was but I knew it was Bofur.

"Tariel you might want to get off me now."

"Nice try."

"You are one stubborn woman."

"Is that another compliment?"

"Will the pair of you stop with the flirting?" Bofur was now standing a few yards away from us "Thorin would like to talk to you Fili."

"And me?" Tariel asked

"Gandalf wants to see you about something very urgent."

"Thanks Bofur tell them we're coming" I thanked him before he nodded and left us "Now you're going to have to get off me."

"Fine but you're not getting that pipe back" She too then left me. I lay on the grass a while longer before finally deciding to go see what my uncle wanted. I hadn't even walked far when I spotted Ri's book on the grass. When I picked it up something slipped out of her book; it was one of her drawings. I caught it before it could hit the ground.

It was a drawing of her and Jess when they were younger; they didn't look older than ten. On Tariel's lap was a much younger girl probably only two years old. Jess sat on a lad's lap probably not much older than her. I guessed they were all siblings by how they looked. They all were sharing the same bright smiles that looked as though they were laughing. I didn't think I've ever seen Tariel or Jessica this happy before sure I had seen them smiling and laughing together but never as much as this. I knew something must have happened; maybe it had something to do with why they left.

* * *

I watched her as she flinched every time she drew the bowstring back; I had been for almost half an hour now. It just got worse and worse as she continued. I finally decided enough was enough.

"Jessica" She looked at me curiously "You're hurting yourself."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You've flinched every time you've drawn back an arrow."

"You must have had a lot to-"

"I only had water last night."

"Well then your vision must be-"

"I never missed the target when I was shooting and I got almost all my arrows near the centre."

"Then…I…Well…I'm not in pain, if I were Elrond wouldn't have let me go shoot."

"Ah but he doesn't know that your here."

"H-How did you know?"

"So it is true."

"Why you sneaky little bastard?!"

"Says the stubborn lady."

"Stubborn! I am most certainly not stubborn!"

"That's what you think."

"You are the most-"Jessica never managed to finish her sentence when Dwalin interrupted her.

"Why is it every time I look at the pair of you you're always bickering? You even argued over who has the best boot knife!" We both mumbled our quick apologies to Dwalin knowing he was right and we were constantly fighting "Now neither of you probably realized but its lunch now so you might want to go up before there is nothing left.

We didn't need telling twice. Jess collected her arrows before we both raced back to the balcony. I came to a sudden halt before my uncle saw me running like a child causing Jess to slam into me. We tumbled over just narrowly missing the table. I landed half on her and half off. She let out a very loud groan to which I responded with a chuckle. I pushed myself up onto my elbows to look at her. She opened her hazel eyes before she too did the same and looked at me.

"You're still a sneaky bastard" She mumbled.

"And you're still a stubborn lady" I chuckled; to my surprise she began to giggle.

A cough from the dining table beside us silenced us. I realized everyone was watching us; I began to feel my cheeks turning red from embarrassment. I noticed Jess was as red as a crimson rose. She still looked gorgeous to me though. I watched her for a few more moments before shaking my head back into reality. I jumped up and being the gentleman that I am I helped Jess up. She smiled a small thanks to me; I felt myself blush even further. She went to sit beside Tariel who whispered something in her ear increasing her blush. I looked at my uncle who was not in the least bit impressed; no surprise to me. I walked around my uncle almost as though I was sneaking around him. I sat down next to Fili who raised his eyebrows at me. I shook him off and we all continued like nothing happened.

* * *

"Hey" I greeted the dark haired dwarf when I saw him coming towards me.

"You okay?" He sounded concerned, but why?

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Well you're sitting here alone in the middle of the night when you should be in bed" He sat down beside me with his legs hanging over the edge of the bridge. I turned my attentions back to the silent reflective river.

"If you must know I can't sleep."

"So you came here" I nodded my head even if it wasn't a question "Why?"

"I have too much on my mind at the moment."

"And the river helps calm your mind."

"Yeah I guess it does."

"If it helps do you want to tell me what is on your mind?"

"Wow a caring side of Kili" I began to chuckle.

"I'll have you know I'm a very caring and considerate person."

"Only when it suits you" I knew I'd won by saying that even if it weren't true; Kili did have a different side to his normal troublemaking, not knowing when to draw the line behaviour.

"So what is on your mind?"

"A lot."

"I have time."

"You really aren't going to give up are you?" He shook his head "Well it's really just about my heritage and elvish blood."

"What about it?"

"I just feel like the dwarves hate both me and Ri because of our blood."

"But they don't. Sure they may be a little hostile towards you but they don't hate you or your sister."

"How would you know? Look at how you took to finding out about my heritage" I looked him right in the eye before hanging my head "I knew I shouldn't have told you of my blood, I was surprised you kept your mouth shut for that long."

"I over-exaggerated when I found out about your heritage and all that like I do with everything. And yes it was my fault for letting slip of you elvish side I never meant for it to happen. I'm sorry for what I did" He lifted my chin up gently to face him "But like I said you will always have me even when everyone else turns against you."

I looked into his brown eyes before closing them and letting my head fall gently against his shoulder. He snaked one of his arm around my shoulders pulling me closer. I closed my eyes breathing in his scent. Trees, smoke and…lavender?

"Why do you smell of lavender?" He didn't answer "Kili..."

"Me and Fili kind of got into a fight…" He trailed off

"That still doesn't explain the smell."

"We ended up throwing the bath oils at each other." He looked at me as I rolled my eyes.

"No surprise" I muttered loud enough for him to hear. He nudged me a little with his shoulder "I heard that."

"You were meant too" I stated, he stayed silent. After that we kept silent; it was comfortable and exactly how we wanted it. I laid my head on his shoulder again, he allowed me to snuggle into his neck to which I was grateful for. We sat there for what seemed like a short while but it was actually only two hours at the most when he stood up. He didn't say anything he just held out his hand for me to take. I took it, he helped me up. Kili didn't let go instead he lead me along the bridge through the main building of the elvish city. He dragged me through many different corridors; I swear he had got us lost multiple times.

Even so he finally reached his destination; he had brought me to a balcony with a clearing. After looking around my surroundings a bit more I realised this was where I normally read stories to Estel whenever I came here.

"He told me this is where you'd read him stories every night when you came here" Kili had read my mind.

"They would send him into a peaceful sleep. I loved reading to him sometimes I sung…" I trailed off as I rested my arms against the balcony barrier. He did the same.

"I love him as my own child" I sighed.

"W-would you ever have children?" He stammered at first but got his question out.

"Is that a trick question? Of course I would" I replied honestly "Maybe in another 30 or 40 years I will settle down but after this I'm going to Gondor."

He chuckled at what I said.

"What?" He continued to laugh "Will you please tell me what you find so funny?"

"Sorry, it's just I never thought you'd have such a soft spot for children" He finally answered me once his laughing had ceased.

"Hey I'm a woman! All women have a soft spot for children."

"What about the ice queen?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"You know? The ice queen...Hardest of hearts...A character from your favourite storybook."

Realization hit me, he spotted it. Of course she was from one of my favourite stories that I used to read to Estel. But how did he?

"Estel told me."

"How do you know what I'm thinking?!"

"You're like an open book" He explained.

"But even...No she can."

"Proves my point."

"She's my twin Kili."

"Oh yeah I forgot about that."

"No surprise there..." I muttered.

"How come her hair is lighter than yours?"

"Full of questions you are. She spent more time in the sun than me...Mainly because I was always getting in trouble" I then added "Even so she loved to draw so she took whatever chance she could to draw whatever she could find."

We fell silent again, this time however it was quite uncomfortable. I looked up at the stars. I gazed intently at one in particular. The Northern Star...Home.

I smiled slightly as my eyes closed shut while memories rushed through my head. However, they stopped when warmth suddenly appeared around the back of my body. Opening my eyes I looked down at my hands as I watched a familiar dwarf's hands lace with mine. I leaned back into his comfortable warmth; he buried his head within the crook of my neck.

"What do you think you're doing?" I murmured while closing my eyes again.

"You're cold" He simply stated.

"And you couldn't have just wrapped a coat around me because?"

"I'd get cold."

"Such a gentleman..." I trailed off.

"Why thank you!" He chuckled receiving a roll of the eyes from me.

"Now I know why I didn't wear the nightdress" I mumbled resulting in him chuckling again.

"I think there is another reason why?" I was confused at first but then remembered the other night.

"Kili! How can you think such thoughts?!"

"Actually I think I understand why you wear your waistcoat. Stop us staring all day" He totally ignored the question which I don't think I really wanted him to answer. Did he say waistcoat?

"Wait it's not a waistcoat? But...surely you don't..." He trailed off not finishing the sentence. He didn't have to because I could make out what he was going to ask.

"Yes I wear a bandage and please will you stop reading my mind it's starting to make me think you know everything about me" I told him in a tired tone.

"Okay sorry and no I don't know everything, even Estel doesn't" He moved his head so it was still resting on my shoulder but so he could see the view "If you don't mind me asking, why do you wear a bandage?"

"Yes I do mind actually."

"Oh sorry."

"Maybe sometime later during the journey but not now."

"Okay."

It was silent after that. Comfortable or uncomfortable I couldn't really tell. I didn't like it; neither did he. I looked down over the balcony at the near black river. I leaned even further back till all my weight was pressed against him; he pulled us both closer to the railing. We stayed like this for a while, an hour at the most. It stayed in a mix of being comfortable and uncomfortable all that time. Suddenly I felt my eyes droop slight so I forced them open but they just closed completely. I must have shifted slightly because he had stopped resting against me; instead he was holding me properly turning me around.

"Come on. Better get you to bed before you fall over your feet."

My response was a murmur which even I couldn't make out because I just fell into darkness without any warning. I knew I had woken up slightly because the last thing I remember was Kili placing me on my bed before covering me with my blanket. I then fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

**I have updated nearly all of the chapters; the main reason why this chapter took so long. I will be typing about 3000 - 5000 words for each chapter now on so if long chapters aren't your thing then please let me know and I'll split the chapters into two parts or shorten it. Please tell me what you think and I am in urgent need of constructive criticism because I really think I need a humongous improvement. And once again please follow and favourite. Thank you!**

**-Sacred-**


	9. Chapter 9: Wise Words

**Chapter 9**

**Wise Words**

* * *

We have spent the past week and a bit in Rivendell all because of my injured ribs. It did do the dwarves some good even if they didn't want it or like it here. Well neither did me or Tariel…apart from the fact we could see Estel. Thinking of him he was now choosing a book out from the library for me to read to him even if it was morning. I had been so far making myself comfortable on the floor near the balcony glass doors which were locked shut after many failed attempts of escaping. I had placed as many cushions, pillows and blankets I could find onto my chosen area.

Just as I dumped the last cushion down Estel came skipping in a brown leathered book clutched tightly in his hands. The book had worn edges which told me it must be old or used quite a lot. I jumped onto the soft bedding; the young lad copied landing next to me. I wrapped my arm round him to which he snuggled into my side. He handed me the book once we were both comfortable enough I looked at the cover of the book; there was no title. I opened it up to the first page that had writing in the middle of it.

'_Diary of Princess Jessica'_

'_Heir to the throne of Telemnar'_

I looked at Estel with a questioning look. I began to see him develop his famous puppy dog eyes which he always used when in trouble or to get what he wanted. Rolling my own eyes I turned to the next page. After clearing my throat I began to read out aloud what was written.

_17__th__ May 2881 T.A._

_Once again I'm stuck in my room just because my mother found out about my adventure into the armoury. I didn't see why she made such a big deal; it was months ago! I knew it had to be something else…maybe it was just a cover up for sneaking out with my brother when he went into the town to steal something out of pure boredom. That just gave me more questions and fewer answers. Even so why couldn't she just have told me off for that instead of giving a cover up story. _

_I had been pacing around my room in frustration nearly all day. When I wasn't doing that I was throwing my daggers at the wall or attacking the bedpost with my sword. Yes that's right she hadn't taken my weapons or I would have literally died from boredom. I mean literally! I hate being confined to my chambers; I feel like a bird trapped in its cage. _

_Anyway I guess I should say that I've been writing a list of all the possible reasons why my mother grounded me and honestly I've counted over 200. See that's how bored I am; I've actually counted all of the reasons. I really hope time will pass by quickly or I find something that will help pass the time._

_2__nd__ June 2881 T.A._

_Ugh! I hate her so much! Tariel was the one who grassed me up to mother on the pranks played on the soldiers and the kitchen raid with Arthur. What a little snitch! I hate her so much I wish she would stop it and just loosen up! She is always alone up in a tree drawing. I'm always blamed for never including her when it was my fault I broke her arm two years ago because I was trying to force her into playing with me. I wish she would stop getting me into trouble; I don't understand what I've done to make her hate me so much. I wish she would just crawl into some dark place and rot away!_

_17__th__ June 2881 T.A._

_Father has allowed me to join him to the Grey Mountains for a meeting that I must not ruin. At first that was my plan to annoy the dwarven council but after seeing the seriousness in my father's eye I knew it must be important; the only thing that is playing with my mind is why would he take me if it is so important?_

_2__nd__ July 2881 T.A._

_We have been here for a few days now and I love it though it doesn't compare to my own home Telemnar. Here we stay confined in the mountains with torches being your only source of light while at home we use the natural light to see during the day and torches during the night. Oh how I wish to be climbing trees and splashing about in the river._

_Staying in the Grey Mountains has its good points though. Tori is the king's daughter who is also my old friend. I was glad to see her and she has grown so much. She is seven now; I last seen her when she was four when she came for the celebration of my younger sisters – Annaliese – birth. She took me on a tour around the mountain which was spread over three days starting from the moment I set foot out of the throne room which only finished a few hours ago._

_I was awestruck at how they work; it was so much more amazing than back home. Well considering Telemnar is made up of nearly every race except hobbits (children sized people) and this place only has dwarves then it should be much better. I also was shocked at how my stubbornness compared to the dwarves was nothing; my mother always complained of my stubbornness it made me wonder what she'd say about these dwarves. _

_Speaking of my mother I also began to wonder of her well being. You see only me, Arthur, my father and a few palace guards came along, nothing huge. Annaliese was too young to come and Tariel well I didn't really know why. Arthur was with Torus – the elder brother of Tori – all the time learning new skills with that blasted sword of his. I still didn't understand why I wasn't allowed one; it's so unfair! _

_Anyway Torus is a teenage heartthrob for all the girls here. You see he is fourteen and unfortunately for him most of the noble's daughters are thirteen or fourteen. To me, Tori and my brother it is just hilarious watching him try and escape the ladies._

_Now hopefully I will write more later because Tori is at my door asking for me._

I stopped there to look at Estel who was looking at me expectantly "I'm not reading any further."

"Aww why?"

"You know what happened. I don't want to be reminded of it."

"But Lord Elrond said-" I interrupted him there.

"Oh Lord Elrond set you up to this did he?"

"Only to get you to read your diary, he said it will help you move on" Estel had moved onto his knees to level his eyes with mine "And I don't think he is right but you still blame yourself for Annaliese's death when it wasn't."

"How was it now? How can it not be my fault when every time I think about it I see her blood on my hands?" I began to cry as I looked at my hands. Estel placed a comforting hand on my shoulder "Who shot that arrow? An orc, you're not an orc so you couldn't have killed her."

"But I could've saved her!" Tears began streaming down my cheeks. It was a very touchy subject for me; I wouldn't even discuss it with Ri.

"How could you? You were getting dragged away by almost a hundred soldiers" Estel moved his head so he could look into my eyes again "Tell me what you could have done to save your sister?"

"I-I could have kept her close" I had calmed my sobs enough to speak properly "Instead I was being selfish and tried to save myself until it was too late."

"Yet you were screaming for her, for someone to help her."

"H-how d-did you know?" I don't remember telling him anything of this, not anyone for that matter.

"I didn't. I just heard you screaming for her at night when you have bad dreams. This is the first chance I've got to see if it were true and you did know no one was helping her" Estel's eyes searched mine "You were the only one who saw her get killed because only you knew she was left unprotected and because of that you went through a state of shock, falling into a coma for nearly five months. When you woke you had gotten your imagination so convinced that it was your fault and you did nothing to warn anyone, that you just left her, it became a reality."

"W-what do you mean a coma?" I didn't remember this. I just remember waking up after falling asleep from exhaustion.

"That is what you were told. At that time you were confused but in the back of your mind you knew; you knew what really happened and that you did really fall into a coma. You were healing, your body knew that so it kept it hidden until you were ready but being the stubborn lady that you are you told yourself you weren't so I had to force it out of you."

Realisation hit me and all the memories came flooding back. I felt my body hit the soft pillows and blankets before I was thrown into the endless world of darkness.

* * *

My back was resting against the wall inspecting my hidden blade. The dwarves were basically doing the exact same if not then they were eating. I had just begun to inspect the other hidden blade when we heard it. A high pitched scream; Jess! No one even had the chance to blink before I was up and sprinting to her room where I knew she would be; she had collapsed earlier this morning and hadn't woken up since. I knew it had to be her nightmares, nothing else would make her scream unless she was in immense pain which I highly doubt she was. I could hear heavier footsteps than my own behind me; I knew it was one of the dwarves. I came to a sudden halt at her door. It was Kili who had followed me; I should have knew they were kind of-

Another scream dragged me from my thoughts. I threw the door open causing it to repel off the wall and slam shut. It missed both me and Kili as we were both by my sister's side before it closed. I knelt on the bed, over Jess brushing back her hair. Tears ran down her cheeks like waterfalls. Her eyes were clenched shut as well as her teeth. Sweat shone almost like moonlight on her face. Her fingers grasped Kili's hand tightly squeezing it; the other was grasping the blankets.

"Annaliese! NO!" She cried; I wasn't surprised her nightmares were always the same. Kili was confused but it didn't last long before he began helping to comfort her. It didn't take me long to realize that he was actually calming her down more than me. I slowly backed out of the room unnoticed; he was too preoccupied with Jess to realize that I was gone. My back slid down the wall outside my room as the brim of my eye began to fill with tears. I had known that someday it would be someone else to calm her during her nightmares. I knew that I would be hurt me even more when he didn't even realise something major that he should really know. I had been prepared for this, I knew that I would cry no matter how prepared I was.

A mix of heavy and light footsteps caught my attention; quickly I wiped my eyes. I looked up to see the company, Gandalf, Elrond and Arwen. They looked at me with a questioning look to which I gave them a weak smile indicating that she was alright. Only a few murmurs were heard coming from Jessica's room now. Arwen moved to enter the room but I stopped her.

"Kili is in there. I think he has got it covered" She looked at me; after a moment she nodded her head. She left the door and went to stand beside her father. After they had a short quiet conversation in elvish they left. All the dwarves continued to look at me not once shifting their gaze. I looked to Gandalf hoping he'd get rid of them; he understood straight away.

"Right well it seems that everything is sorted so I guess we better leave and get some sleep. You all know that you have to leave early tomorrow" He began to herd the dwarves back down the corridor; Fili however managed to break loose. I knew the wizard knew he had; why did he let him go? I have no idea. When they all disappeared from our sight Fili finally spoke.

"What has upset you?"

"Your brother. My sister" I looked up at him, I knew there was no point trying to deny it, he could see right through me "Not their fault though. I knew it would happen someday."

"What would?" His brows were furrowed in confusion.

"I knew that one day it would not be me comforting her, calming her after one of her nightmares. After years of doing it at least once a month it just comes as a shock and when I could hear her screaming and it wasn't me helping her it made me cry. It's like how a mother would feel if their child was crying and another woman came along and could do a better job while all the mother could do was to stand in the shadows and watch" I had held the tears back; I still was fighting against them "It's worse when Kili doesn't even know the truth of what happened and what they are now."

"What do you mean?" He stepped forward, his protective side showing. Fili knew I was hiding something; that even Jess was too.

"Nothing."

"You said what they are now. What do you mean by that?"

"It is not my place to say" I dismissed his question for his and my own liking too quickly. I did this because it was true he couldn't know without his brother knowing first. I stood up to leave but he grabbed my wrist "What?!"

His eyes filled with shock that my own soon matched; I should not have said it like that. He loosened his grip letting me go; he knew it's what I wanted most. I opened my mouth to apologise but it never came out; I just hoped he knew. I then took my leave but instead of turning left to go back to where we were sleeping tonight I went right. All the corridors were deserted so I would know if someone followed me. I didn't want someone finding out where I was going; I didn't want somebody to overhear.

When I finally came to my destination I checked to see if anyone had followed me just to stay on the safe side. Satisfied that there was no one; I knocked on the door. A muffled voice telling me to come in answered. I opened the door, closed it and then greeted my old friend.

"Seraphine! I'm so glad you could make it" I hugged her tightly as she did to me; it had been a long time since we had seen each other. We broke apart and she led me to a lounge chair where we both sat down.

Seraphine was a beautiful elf or so I always told her. She always had at least one man chasing after her everywhere she went even Elladan and Elrohir were chasing her like love sick puppies every time she was with them. She took me from my thoughts when she handed me a cup of wine. I decided to strike up a conversation to avoid one I didn't want to discuss at the moment "So how are you?"

"I'm good and I see you are too. Now we must get down to the real problem" Her voice was the same silvery voice I knew from 2 years ago when I last saw her in person. Of course she would have to bring it up; nothing leaves her mind especially when it is the reason why she came. Sighing I knew I better get it over with.

"I know but…what am I meant to do when I can't even let Jess know. It's like when we were little, how we were so far apart…I fear it is happening again."

"In time she will know but at the moment she is dealing with too much hence the reason why she collapsed" She placed a hand on my shoulder, comforting me.

"Who told you?" I asked knowing that only Lady Galadriel knew of her arrival and she was at a meeting or so I was told.

"Elladan and Elrohir. They have been entertaining me ever since I got here."

"How did they…" I trailed off.

"Ri. They are like dogs that sniff people out; that is how they know my every move."

"Fair enough."

"Now stop trying and failing at distracting me. It is the reason why I came so I'm not going to forget that easily" She shook her head at my failure. I held my hands up "You got me."

I took another sip of my red wine. I didn't really care for its flavour just as long as it tasted good. I then looked at Seraphine "Right where to begin then?"

* * *

A dark hooded figure sprinted across the finely tiled rooftops. He didn't even wake the elves who have heightened hearing. The unnamed man came to a stop before swinging over the edge of the roof and onto the balcony railing below. Silently he set himself down onto the balcony stone tiled floor before he began working on picking at the lock on the two long doors. It didn't take him long till a click was heard that echoed throughout the city or so the man thought.

Now he entered the room with great caution. He came to stand beside a bed that was occupied by two peaceful sleeping figures. The man pulled down his hood revealing his identity. He had short dark brown hair that just reached his shoulders that were accompanied with sharp weary hazel eyes. By looks he would be every girl's dream of the perfect man but he wasn't. This man was a travelling thief just like his other two siblings though he was thought to be dead by everyone save a few.

He was towering above the young lady with a caring look as he brushed some of he hair back from her face. Stepping back he looked at the other occupant who had his arms protectively around the woman. He cocked his head to the side then after a short while he smiled. It didn't stay long though. He began to scribble down a letter before signing it off with his trademark signature. The letter was shoved to the very bottom of a satchel that had been dumped beside the bedside table. Then the thief left the room as if he had never been there.

* * *

Sunlight shone through the curtains announcing to the world that it was a new day. My eyes flickered open taking awhile to adjust to the bright light. I sat up whilst stretching almost like a cat would. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I stumbled a little when I got up quickly my vision went a little blurry. Once I recovered I quickly went to change out of my short green nightdress.

I opened up my drawers to a few piles of neatly folded linen shirts. I was about to go with a plain white one when I spotted a royal shirt from my home. I picked it up and it unfolded itself. I could easily tell it was a travelling shirt from the designs and material; it was more simple than the other shirts I remember having to where whenever I didn't want to wear a dress which was literally everyday. The shirt was thrown onto the bed as well as a pair of trousers which also were from my home, a waist belt, undergarments, socks and my boots except they were placed beside my bed.

When I was changed I quickly did my usual side plait. Sighing I turned to face my weapons which consisted of an oversized dagger, ten throwing knives, two boot knives, four daggers, two double hidden blades and finally my bow and arrows. As soon as I had just pulled on my gloved blades there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I asked

"It's me Jess. Can I come in?"

"Sure" Jess opened the door and strolled in casually like she didn't even knock. I rolled my eyes before asking "What do you want?"

"Am I not even allowed to drop in and say hi to my little sister before I go have a chat with Lindir."

"And what do you mean when you say a chat with Lindir?"

She gasped in mock horror "What on earth do you mean?...Okay, okay I'm going to get something back from him."

"If it's those poison bottles you had then your plan will fail" I went into the bathroom to clean my teeth. Jess leaned against the door way but still in my view in the mirror which hung on the wall above the basin.

"I'm not after the poison bottles, I got those back a few days ago" I cast her a questioning look "He has a book that I'm wanting, Lord Elrond asked him to keep it hidden."

I used the water from the cup to rinse my mouth before leaving the room. I knew she was lying about what she was actually after but I left it; if I didn't survive the journey over the mountains I didn't want our last conversation to end up with us hating each other.

"Why doesn't he want you to have it?" I asked as I quickly checked my appearance in the mirror.

"How should I know? Elrond's an arrogant bastard" She threw a cloak at me to which she only received a glare "It's yours."

I looked at it and realised she was telling the truth. I wrapped it around my shoulders before attaching it together with my brooch. Once I had my arrows and bow equipped I finally spoke "Yes he is but your a pain in his backside...Oh and my bag please."

She handed the bag over as we left the room together. Jess let out a heavy sigh "Ri...can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" She stopped, I stopped a few steps in front of her.

"D-do you...do you regret...coming?" I looked at her, I knew what she meant.

"Sometimes I do because like you sister I miss our old life. The freedom, not having a care in the world, only having to look out for each other. Then when I think about we have came a long way since that night when we first met the dwarves...and hobbit" I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, then added "But think what would have happened if we never came."

Slowly she nodded knowing exactly what I was talking about. A smile crept up onto my face "And don't forget we didn't come we would have missed out on a great adventure!"

Her face brightened and she forgot about what she had asked "Your Right! Now come we mustn't keep them waiting!"

She linked her arms with me as she walked with a slight bouncing her step, a bright smile on her face and all her worries washed away.

* * *

**I'm sorry that this is so late but I had a few set backs (Writer's block for about a week, lost my work twice, starting a new fanfic, just started getting homework at my school and it has literally been piled on). Anyway here it is and I hope you like it because honestly I don't but I never like my on writing that much. Once again please comment, favourite and follow.  
**

**~Sacred~**


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